St. Cloud, Minn. (KNSI) A recently reinstated priest at St. John’s Abbey, who was cleared of sexual abuse allegations in an internal investigation, is being named in two civil lawsuits, and is again being accused of abuse.
The suit names Father Timothy Backous and St. John’s Abbey as defendants.
One suit is being brought by Doe 413, who says he was sexually abused by Backous at St. John’s Prep School in 1982 and 1983 when he was 16 years old.
The second lawsuit is being brought by Doe 188; a former member of the St. John’s Boys Choir who was says Backous abused him on a choir trip to Europe in 1990 when he was 12 or 13 years old.
When the parents of a child he abused in 1990 made their son’s allegations public in 2014, St. John’s placed Backous on temporary administrative leave pending an investigation.
In November 2015 St. John’s announced they finished a “thorough and complete investigation” and found that the allegations were “unsubstantiated.”
This was the second time St. John’s cleared Backous of the 1990 abuse allegations. The first was in 1991 when it initially learned of them from the boy’s parents.
Attorney Mike Bryant of Bradshaw and Bryant said the window for victims of child sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit against their offenders will expire on May 15.
In a statement, St. John’s Abbey says the allegations against Backous are without merit and false, and will be aggressively defended.
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Priest Accused Of Sexual Abuse, Again
KNSI
April 28, 2016
