Clergy Abuse Suit of Rev. Aguilar Rivera Delayed to Consolidate Cases Gillian Flaccus - Associated Press
go to original May 15, 2013

Joaquín Aguilar Méndez, right, a former altar boy, has sued the Rev. Nicolás Aguilar, shown in photo at left. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)

LOS ANGELES - A judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a fugitive Mexican priest molested a boy 25 years ago in Los Angeles and instead combined claims by 11 alleged victims into one trial.

Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias postponed trial in the lawsuit involving the Nicolas Aguilar Rivera and, for now, denied a request by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles for a change of venue.

The lawsuit claims Aguilar Rivera molested the plaintiff in 1987 while in Los Angeles, where he was working for one year after being severely beaten in his home parish in the Diocese of Tehuacan, in Mexico's Puebla State.

The priest fled back to Mexico in January 1988 after parents complained about abuse and an archdiocese official told Aguilar Rivera the church would have to notify Los Angeles police.

When detectives arrived, the priest was already gone but an investigation revealed he had molested as many as 26 children, many of them altar boys, during the nine months he spent in California.

An arrest warrant on 19 felony counts remains in effect if he ever returns to the U.S., said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman. His whereabouts are unknown.

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