Sex Victim of New York Priest Sues Albany Diocese

The Vermont lawyer for a sexual abuse victim of a New York priest serving a 20-year prison sentence says the civil case could expose the way the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany handled sexual abuse allegations against priests.

Burlington attorney Jerome O’Neill says the case against the diocese and 68-year-old former priest Gary Mercure was filed in federal court in Vermont because the state’s statute of limitations is longer than New York’s.

The victim, now 36, testified during Mercure’s criminal trial in Massachusetts that the priest raped him in New York and Massachusetts in the 1980s. The current complaint says abuse took place in Vermont as well.

O’Neill is seeking documents from the diocese.

Diocese spokesman Ken Goldfarb tells the Times Union of Albany the claims have no basis.