Boston atty. plans to pursue sex abuse settlements for 28 more Warren JFK victims

YOUNGSTOWN

The $8 million settlement reached in Pennsylvania between 88 sex-abuse victims of Brother Stephen Baker did not involve any Ohio victims, but there are still 28 alleged Ohio victims with claims.

Atty. Mitchell Garabedian of Boston said he plans to begin asking the Diocese of Youngstown for settlement negotiations “forthwith” regarding the 28 who claim also to have been victims of the Franciscan friar while he taught at Warren John F. Kennedy High School from 1986 to 1992.

Garabedian said a representative for the Diocese of Youngstown participated in the negotiations that resulted in the $8 million Pennsylvania settlement, but it was not because any victims were from within the Youngstown diocese.

The settlement was for 88 alleged sex-abuse victims of Brother Baker while he taught at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa., from 1992 to 2001.

Garabedian said the 28 in Ohio are separate from the 11 men who received a settlement from the Youngstown diocese, Warren JFK High School, and Brother Baker’s religious order, the Third Order Regular Franciscans, in 2012 because of alleged sexual misconduct by Brother Baker while at JFK.

Read more about the settlement and the cases in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.