Dec 15, 2010 / 15:33 pm
The Knights of Columbus, the largest Catholic fraternal organization, is vehemently denying accusations that they willfully covered up reports that one of their members sexually abused minors several decades ago.
On Dec. 14, the Miami law firm Mermelstein & Horowitz filed two lawsuits against the Knights national organization and its leader, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, alleging that Julian Rivera, who worked as a leader in Columbian Squires youth program in Brownsville, Texas, sexually abused two boys in the 1970s.
One victim, who identifies himself as “John Doe,” says Rivera threatened him with sexual demands at gunpoint when he was as young as 12 years old, telling him that he would kill his family if he did not comply. The abuse, which began in 1970, is reported to have continued for several years.
The second plaintiff – who released his name as Jim Dennany – claims that Rivera began showing him pornography at age 12 and began sexually abusing him from the ages of 14 to 16.