Diocese of San Diego Accused Priests

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is one of the many dioceses in California and throughout the world that’s the subject of child sexual abuse claims. Childhood victims across the country and worldwide are speaking up about the abuse they endured at the hands of the Church’s clergy members. The Diocese of San Diego comprises Imperial and San Diego counties and faces numerous lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.

In September 2007, the Diocese settled 144 claims alleging sexual abuse by 48 priests. The settlement involved about 150 lawsuits containing allegations of abuse spanning from 1938 to 1993, with most of the abuse occurring in the 1960s and 1970s. The settlement amount was $198.1 million, making it the second-largest settlement paid out by a Catholic diocese in America.

Before the settlement, earlier that same year, the Diocese of San Diego filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only hours before the first lawsuit went to court. The largest settlement ever paid out by a Catholic Diocese in the US was for $660 million, paid by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles earlier that same year to 508 victims sexually abused by priests.

In 2018, the Diocese of San Diego released a list of 50 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. The Church assigned the priests to San Diego or San Bernardino. The Diocese added eight priests to the list later that year.

A lawsuit filed in 2019 alleged that former Priest Monsignor Gregory Sheridan sexually molested three female victims at their church in San Diego when they were only 5, 9, and 11 years old. One of the victims claimed that while she was helping Sheridan organize his stamp collection in the rectory, he tried to kiss her while rubbing his hands all over her body. She was only nine years old when the abuse started, and it continued for years. Sheridan died in 1991.

The victims filed the lawsuit after California passed a law giving all sexual abuse survivors, regardless of their current age or when the abuse happened, a three-year window to file cases, including reviving old claims previously time-barred, against their abusers and the institutions allowing the abuse. The three-year period started on January 1, 2020, and ends on December 31, 2022.

California also extended the statute of limitations so that adult survivors of child sexual abuse now have until they turn 40 to file civil lawsuits. The new law recognizes that victims of child sexual abuse often don’t come to terms with their abuse until many years after it happens.

Many lawsuits followed these revolutionary legislative changes, with survivors of childhood sexual abuse finally feeling heard, and the cases continue to pour in. For example, in June 2021, a former parishioner of the Diocese filed a civil lawsuit, claiming that Father Ramon Marrufo molested the man, now 54, when he was in second grade at a school in San Bernardino County. According to the lawsuit, the abuse started in the 1970s and went on for several years.

Ordained in 1976, Marrufo served in numerous parishes in the Diocese, with his last assignment from 2010 to 2019 at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Parish and School in Fallbrook. The lawsuit named the Diocese of San Diego as one of the defendants, claiming that it knew about the allegations against Marrufo for more than a year but failed to notify the schools and parishes where he worked.

According to the lawsuit, Marrufo molested at least one other person. That victim received a settlement through the Church’s Independent Compensation Fund created in 2019 to compensate victims of priest sexual abuse. Beau Potter, the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Marrufo, stated that he chose to use his real name rather than sue as a “John Doe” because he wants his perpetrators to know his name and the pain they caused him.

If you or someone you love suffered sexual abuse as a child at the Diocese of San Diego, contact our team of compassionate lawyers at Herman Law today for a free consultation. We want to help you get the justice you deserve for the pain and suffering you’ve silently endured for decades.

• Beatty, Rev. John
• Benson, Rev. Gustavo
• Booth, James T.
• Chavarin, Rev. Jose
• Covas, Rev. Peter
• Doxie, Msgr. Donald F
• Engl, Rev. Simeon (Samuel) Engl
• Foley, Rev. James Patrick
• French, Rev. Michael
• Galindo, Msgr. Rudolph
• Ganahl, Rev. James
• Gill, Rev. Paul
• Gomez, Rev. Maximiliano
• Houck, Rev. Richard
• Keith, Rev. John
• Kraft, Rev. Msgr. William
• Lally, Rev. George
• Langille, Rev. Justin
• Luque, Rev. Peter
• McGinn, Rev. Malachy
• McNamara, Patrick
• Medaer, Msgr. Mark
• Mejia, Rev. Ricardo
• Moloney, Msgr. Thomas
• Montagna, Rev. Paolino
• Nikliborc, Rev. Robert
• O’Keeffe, Msgr. Patrick J.
• Polizzi, Rev. Daniel
• Robier, Rev. Franz
• Rodrigue, Anthony
• Roll, Rev. David
• Rossell, Rev. Joseph
• Savord, Rev. William
• Sheridan, Msgr. Gregory
• Sierra, Rev. Frank
• Spain, Msgr. William
• Thompson, Rev. Matthew
• Uboldi, Rev. Victor
• Valverde, Rev. William
• Vinyard, Rev. Barry

Credible Allegations – Priests Of Other Dioceses That Served In San Diego

• Baltazar, Rev. Carmelo
• Becker, Rev. Franklyn
• Cotter, Rev. James H.
• Damasco, Rev. Nelson
• d’Amora, Rev. Edito
• De Francisco, Rev. Luis
• Etienne, Rev. Raymond
• Flynn, Rev. Herman
• Koerner, Rev. Robert
• Kowalczyk, Rev. Adalbert
• Marron, Rev. Peter
• Marron, Rev. Victor
• Omemaga, Rev. Emmanuel