NJ priest sex-abuse case settled for just over $1M

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Lawyers for five men who say they were abused by a New Jersey priest when they were boys say they have reached a seven-figure settlement with the church.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton will pay just over $1 million to five former altar boys at the Incarnation Church in Ewing.

The men say the Rev. Ronald Becker molested them in the 1970s and 1980s while they were 11 to 16 years old. Becker died in 2009. Lawyers claim one boy was molested about 150 times.

Garabedian calls the settlement a major step in the right direction for the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the church.

The diocese did not have an immediate response, but says it is preparing a statement.