Mariano Rivera: Lawsuit says ex-Yankee failed to protect a girl from sexual abuse at a church camp

New York
AP
 — 

New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his spouse are accused in a lawsuit of failing to guard a younger woman who was sexually abused by an older youngster throughout a summer season camp journey sponsored by their church.

In a lawsuit filed this month, attorneys for the woman allege that the Corridor of Fame pitcher and his spouse Clara Rivera, a pastor on the Refuge of Hope Church, flew from New York to Florida to research after the woman’s mom expressed issues about her daughter’s security throughout the 2018 journey.

However quite than take motion, the couple “remoted and intimidated” the sufferer into remaining “silent about her damaging experiences,” together with the abuse, the lawsuit says.

Joseph A. Ruta, an lawyer for the Riveras, mentioned in a press release that any allegations that they “knew about or didn’t act on reviews of kid abuse are utterly false.” He mentioned the couple solely realized of the allegations in 2022 after receiving a letter from an lawyer requesting a monetary settlement.

“The Riveras are identified all through New York for his or her charitable work and particularly for his or her dedication to serving underprivileged youngsters,” Ruta mentioned. “It’s unlucky they’re being focused by false allegations.”

The lawsuit doesn’t identify the accuser, nevertheless it says she was born in 2007, which might have made her 10 or 11 years outdated in 2018.

That summer season, in response to the criticism, Clara Rivera persuaded a congregant to permit her daughter to attend a camp on the Ignite Life Heart, a church in Gainesville, Florida.

Whereas staying in an unsupervised dorm room, the woman was repeatedly sexually abused by an older feminine camper, in response to the swimsuit. In a police report filed in 2022, the woman mentioned there have been 15 cases of inappropriate touching over a two-week interval, each in her bunk and a bathe.

Although the woman didn’t report the abuse, her mom grew frightened about her security after the 2 spoke on the cellphone name, the criticism states. The mom then outlined her issues to Clara Rivera, who agreed to research, in response to the swimsuit.

Throughout that journey, the couple “obtained info that ought to have given them concern,” the lawsuit says, however selected as a substitute to stay silent to “keep away from the potential scandal of kid sexual abuse in its packages.” The swimsuit doesn’t particularly state what the Riveras had been instructed by the woman or her mom.

The woman later returned to New York and continued her lively participation within the church. However later that summer season, throughout a barbecue for congregants on the Riveras’ house in Rye, New York, she was once more abused by the identical particular person, the criticism states.

“They didn’t mitigate the dangers, and upon studying that she had been a sufferer, took no steps to guard her or get prison justice,” the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, Adam Horowitz, instructed The Related Press by cellphone. “They continued to reveal her once more to the identical threat at her house.”

In 2021, the woman was once more sexually assaulted, this time by a male youth chief at Refuge of Hope, in response to the lawsuit. The abuse in that case was found by the woman’s mom, who discovered months of digital communications between the 2, the lawsuit contends.

Afterward, the woman and her mom filed police reviews in New York and Florida concerning the abuse in 2018 and 2021. Horowitz mentioned he didn’t consider that prison prices had been introduced in any of the circumstances. The lawsuit was filed in opposition to the Refuge of Hope church, not in opposition to the Riveras themselves.

Prosecutors in New York and Florida didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark about whether or not they seemed into the allegations.

A lawyer for Ignite Life Heart didn’t reply to an inquiry. The church not too long ago settled lawsuits introduced by three individuals — additionally represented by Horowitz — who mentioned they had been abused as youngsters by a volunteer at Ignite Life Heart. Two others affiliated with the church have been charged with lewd and lascivious battery in opposition to minors.