A
perverted Catholic priest with a track record of sexual harassment has
been accused of molesting a housekeeper and sending her
sexually-explicit photos - despite having completed a Church-ordered
course of therapy for 'sexual deviancy'.
Fr
Ramon Palomera is accused of forcing the housekeeper to give him
massages, fondling her legs, exposing his genitals to her and bombarding
her with explicit pictures of his penis, according to a lawsuit seen by
DailyMail.com.
The
alleged sexual harassment took place at St Francis Xavier church in Los
Angeles between 2014 to 2015 - just four years after he was removed
from neighboring St Augustine's church for sexual harassing another
female employee over a seven-year period.
The
alleged victim is now suing Palomera, along with the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles - which is led by Archbishop José Gomez - which she claims
assigned the priest to her church despite knowing he had 'a propensity
for violent and sexual acts against women'.
The
suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday by leading civil
rights attorney Mark Geragos states that between 2003 and 2010 Palomera
sexually harassed a female employee at St Augustine Church, in the
Culver City area of Los Angeles.
The abuse was so serious it resulted in a restraining order being issued against him.
Palomera
was assigned to therapy for his 'sexual deviancy issues' - however in
2014 the priest was appointed to St Francis Xavier church in downtown
Los Angeles as associate pastor.
The
suit alleges that the archdiocese and Fr Enrique Huerta, another priest
at St Francis, made the appointment knowing that Palomera was 'entirely
unfit to serve as a clergy member'.
The
Mexico born 50-year-old began his campaign of harassment as soon as he
started the role, ordering the housekeeper - named in the suit only as
Jane Doe - to unpack his belongings 'among which he knew were objects of
sexual gratification including condoms'.
He
instructed her to unpack the items with the 'intent of humiliating the
Plaintiff and causing her emotional distress', the suit claims, and
mocked her when she refused.
Palomera,
a former funeral director and mortuary musician who played the organ
for grieving relatives before he was ordained into the priesthood in
1999, soon began touching the housekeeper 'in an inappropriate and
sexual manner' - including pinching her buttocks, the lawsuit adds.
The
housekeeper also alleges Palomera had a foot fetish - asking her to
give him foot massages and fondling her legs with his bare feet while
she worked.
On
one occasion Palomera flashed the housekeeper as she was cooking in the
church rectory by 'pulling down his pants, and revealing his penis',
causing her to flee the building in 'disbelief, fear, confusion and
severe emotional shock'.
Palomera
also made 'obscene sexual advances' towards the alleged victim and
bombarded her with late-night phone calls asking her to let him come to
her house, according to the damning papers.
The
housekeeper reported the incidents but nothing was done - with Huerta
even telling her to leave Palomera alone and ignore his calls.
The
suit states that she, 'reported Defendant Palomera's inappropriate
conduct to Defendants Archbishop, St Francis and Huerta but all failed
to take measure to force the defendant to cease his conduct… or provide
for the removal, discipline or supervision of Defendant Palomera.'
The priest even began sexting the housekeeper - and on three occasions texted her pictures of his penis.
She
kept one of the images and showed it to Huerta but he still 'took no
action to prevent Defendant Palomera from further harassing the
Plaintiff' the lawsuit states.
The
anonymous housekeeper is now suing Palomera for sexual battery, gender
violence and inflicting emotional distress, claiming his 'extreme and
outrageous conduct… exceeds the bounds of decency tolerated in a
civilized society.'
Ben
Meiselas, of Geragos & Geragos said: 'This disgusting, abhorrent,
and criminal behavior has caused our client the worst pain and suffering
imaginable. It is horrific that the Church refuses to take
accountability. We look forward to presenting our case to a jury.'
The
Archdiocese, Huerta and St Francis church are being sued for 'negligent
hiring, retention, supervision and failure to warn' along with
inflicting emotional distress.
The
defendants are accused of 'extreme and outrageous conduct' by failing
in their duty of care to hire 'fit and competent employees' and
supervise them adequately, the documents say.
By ignoring the housekeeper's repeated complaints about Palomera's conduct they caused her 'extreme emotional distress'.
They
should have also warned staff and members of the public who came to the
church that Palomera posed a danger to those around him.
The
housekeeper is also suing all the defendants for defamation - accusing
them of spreading false rumors that she was having a sexual relationship
with Huerta, which she claims paint her as an 'unchaste and immoral
individual'.
She is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages.
Palomera, who has now been removed from the church, declined to comment on the allegations when confronted by DailyMail.com.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said that as they hadn't yet received the lawsuit they couldn't fully respond.
They
said that some of the allegations made 'are not fully consistent' with
the facts they received from the former employee at the time she made
the report or during the internal investigation that followed.
The
spokesperson said: 'When the former adult employee reported the
inappropriate conduct to the Archdiocese on September 18, 2015, Fr.
Palomera was removed from ministry that same day and has not been
allowed to return.
'In November 2010, Fr Palomera was the subject of an investigation and was removed from ministry.
'He
was sent for treatment and upon his return had limited faculties until
late 2012 when he was found able to return to a parish assignment. The
2010 matter involved a multi-year relationship with an adult female.'
The
spokesperson noted that The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles
named in the lawsuit refers to the formal civil corporation, not the
archbishop himself - in other words, that the housekeeper is suing what
would commonly be called the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The
Catholic Church has a long and controversial history of covering up
sexual abuse - particularly child sex abuse - as recently highlighted in
the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight.
The
film is based on the true story of a Boston Globe investigation which
uncovered widespread and systematic child sex abuse by Catholic priests
in the area.
The
team of journalists - who won a Pulitzer prize for the probe -
discovered that the Church moved around 90 known-pedophile priests to
different roles within the diocese.
A
report commissioned by the Church in 2003 found that more than 4,000
Catholic priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years
in the US.
A
series of large payouts has already been made by the Church to alleged
victims of abuse - including $660 million from the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles in 2007.