Florida resident Miles Jefferies, 40, sued the Nashville diocese, and the New Jersey-based dioceses of Trenton and Metuchen in the U.S. District of Middle Tennessee on Jan. 9 over alleged abuse by the late Rev. Frank Iazzetta. In the 1990s, Iazzetta was a priest in Tullahoma as pastor of St. Paul the Apostle parish and headmaster of its affiliated school.
Jefferies’ allegations and lawsuit are new and is the second ongoing case against the Nashville diocese over alleged abuse.
Meanwhile, a third case dealing with former Nashville priest and school chaplain Rev. Kevin McGoldrick concluded on Jan. 15 following a settlement in a Pennsylvania court. That case over McGoldrick was against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia but was inspired by previous litigation between the Nashville diocese and a victim of alleged abuse.
Jefferies' federal lawsuit claims the Nashville diocese and St. Paul in Tullahoma “knew or reasonably should have known of Father Frank Iazzetta’s sexual abuse of minors before, during, and after he abused.” The Nashville diocese did not comment on the allegations, saying in a statement the court has not served the diocese’s attorneys yet.
“It is not appropriate for us to respond to questions about this lawsuit until our attorneys have an opportunity to review the complaint. We look forward to responding to the lawsuit through the legal process,” Nashville diocese spokesperson Rick Musacchio said in a statement. “We pray for everyone involved in this matter.”
Musacchio added the Nashville diocese manages a victim assistance program and said it’s a resource for victims of alleged abuse regardless of when the alleged incidents occurred.
The alleged abuse Jefferies suffered at the hands of Iazzetta occurred for four years, starting when Jefferies was 6 and enrolled as an elementary school student at St. Paul School. An analysis of dates in court filings shows the alleged abuse began as early as 1991 and continued until 1995, despite Iazzetta retiring in 1993. The complaint said that Iazzetta continued to minister at St. Paul after his retirement and occasionally returned to the Tullahoma parish to celebrate Mass after his retirement.
The Nashville diocese listed Iazzetta in a 2020 letter about priests accused of abuse, which listed Iazzetta’s retirement date. The statement said Iazzetta died in 2007.
Context from Iazzetta’s tenure in New Jersey
Prior to his appointment at St. Paul in Tullahoma, Iazzetta was a priest in New Jersey from 1967 until the late 1980s.
In New Jersey, Iazzetta worked at Saint Joseph parish and high school in Metuchen and at Camp Emmaus House in Whiting. His tenure at those institutions is at the center of two state-level civil cases in New Jersey, filed by two different victims of alleged abuse who are suing the Metuchen and Trenton dioceses.
Those two other lawsuits in New Jersey precede Jefferies’ complaint but allege a similar pattern of abuse and negligence by Catholic leadership.
One of those lawsuits, filed in 2020 by plaintiff Anthony Nolasco, is against the Metuchen and Trenton dioceses and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a priestly order that Iazzetta was a member of. The other lawsuit, filed in 2021 by a plaintiff identified as D.F., is against the Trenton diocese and Brothers of the Sacred Heart.
The Tennessean obtained copies of the complaints in those 2020 and 2021 lawsuits, and attorneys for the plaintiffs in both cases confirmed the suits are ongoing.
The 2021 lawsuit, dealing with allegations of alleged abuse by Iazzetta in his capacity as a supervisor at Camp Emmaus House, allege Iazzetta “forced the campers, including the plaintiff, to line up outside the cabins naked…watched and then hosed each boy off. This occurred every morning,” the complaint said.
That information from Iazzetta’s time in New Jersey is referenced in Jefferies’ new lawsuit against the Nashville diocese, pointing to the examples as a likelihood that Catholic leaders were aware of Iazzetta’s alleged misconduct.
The Nashville, Trenton and Metuchen dioceses “had knowledge of sexual abuse of minors by Father Frank Iazzetta, which was the reason that he was transferred from parish to parish over and over again,” Jefferies alleged in his Jan. 9 complaint.
The Trenton and Metuchen dioceses were not immediately available to respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit said if the Nashville diocese was aware of allegations against Iazzetta, it should have not appointed the priest to serve in Tullahoma or at the very least suspended or fired him.
Jefferies’ complaint said Iazzetta’s alleged abuse included “fondling, molestation, oral sex" and other crimes.
Another ongoing case, another recently settled
In addition to Jefferies lawsuit, the Nashville diocese is facing an ongoing civil case in Davidson County Circuit Court over abuse that occurred at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Murfreesboro.
Michael Lewis, a former St. Rose employee, is serving a 20-year prison sentence following a criminal conviction in which he pleaded guilty to four counts of statutory rape. The victim of that abuse, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, is also suing the Nashville diocese over Lewis’ actions.
The case is ongoing and has fueled heightened scrutiny into former Nashville diocese leadership, accused of ignoring reports about Lewis as early as 2008.
The case, dealing with alleged abuse by former St. Rose employee Michael Lewis, has fueled intense scrutiny into diocesan leadership as early as 2008. In a different criminal case related to the same allegations, Lewis pleaded guilty to four counts of statutory rape and a Rutherford County judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison in February 2022.
There was yet another ongoing case dealing with alleged abuse by former Nashville priest Kevin McGoldrick, but that reportedly concluded on Jan. 15. A docket in the case in a Pennsylvania court said the lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia “settled prior to assignment for trial.” Attorneys for the victim of the alleged abuse, identified in filings as Jane Doe, declined to comment or provide additional documentation related to the settlement in response to a request for comment.
McGoldrick resides in Nashville and is the former chaplain at Aquinas College, a role in which he also worked at both the college and at Overbrook School and St. Cecilia Academy, a Catholic K-6 and high schools that share a campus with Aquinas along West End Avenue. The victim of McGoldrick’s alleged abuse first sued the Nashville diocese and in May 2020, the parties settled for $65,000.
In April 2023, Jane Doe then sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where McGoldrick was employed prior to his tenure in Nashville. The plaintiff accused the Philadelphia archdiocese of negligence, claiming it should have notified Catholic leadership in Nashville before his appointment at Aquinas.
The Nashville diocese has since stripped McGoldrick of his faculties and restricted him from serving in public ministry.