Unsealed records reveal more past sex abuse claims against a former Baton Rouge area priest
by Matt Bruce, The Advocate
Our attorney Julien Lamothe was interviewed as the lead attorney in the case where State District Judge Ronald Johnson ordered the church documents unsealed. “We believe it was important to unseal the records filed by the Diocese of Baton Rouge to support the public purpose of the revival window in educating the public about the prevalence and harm of child sexual abuse to prevent future abuse. Unsealing the records supports that public purpose,” said Mr. Lamothe.
According to Baton Rouge diocese documents recently unsealed in court, “[E]ven after being warned twice that ‘he was socializing too much with students’ at the all-boys school [Catholic High], Father Daniel Lemoine continued to spend time alone with them.”
“While the newly unsealed records include no sexual misconduct accusations against Lemoine at Catholic High, they do reveal he has faced at least seven allegations of abuse elsewhere — some uncovered by his own admission — dating back to the 1970s.”
“In late 1994, not quite two years after losing his teaching job, Lemoine confessed to a church official to having had sex with three boys, two of them under 16 years old, the records show. He was suspended and ordered by church officials into therapy before being allowed to resume limited duties about a year later, largely in a hospital ministry. Ultimately, after being suspended again amid more allegations of past abuse, he was stripped of all duties as a priest in 1999, the records show.”
