Two cousins from Mississippi claim in a new lawsuit they were sexually assaulted by two Franciscan missionaries — and then pressured into taking a measly settlement designed to silence their allegations.
La Jarvis Love and Joshua Love allege in their Manhattan federal suit that they were repeatedly abused by Brother Paul West sometime in the mid-1990s in Mississippi, where they attended Catholic school, in New York in a Manhattan hotel and en route to Camp Alvernia in Centerport.
La Jarvis LoveAPThe court papers accuse West of “raping and sexually assaulting [the cousins], making them perform sex acts on him, and encouraging them to perform sex acts on each other.”
The Loves first reported their abuse to the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, according to the complaint, filed Thursday. The lawsuit does not specify when the alleged abuse occurred.
Joshua Love met with Franciscan Rev. James Gannon and Valerie McClellan, the victim assistance coordinator for the Jackson Diocese, last year and was pushed to settle his claim for $10,000, the suit says.
“It was understood among the group that Joshua could not read and, therefore, was not able to understand the terms of the settlement other than the settlement amount,” the court papers read.
Joshua Love objected, and Gannon upped the settlement to $15,000, which he took.
Joshua Love holds a photograph of himself taken at about the time he says he was sexually abused.APThe court papers claim La Jarvis Love was also pressured into accepting the same amount, and “discouraged from hiring a lawyer.”
The Jackson Diocese declined to immediately comment, while West and Gannon could not be immediately reached.
The Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, who are also named in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
