Columbus Diocese Settles Priest Sexual Abuse Case For $1 Million

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus is paying $1 million to a man who said he survived priest sexual abuse at the hands of a priest and high school teacher as a minor.

The diocese announced the settlement on Wednesday, ending a lawsuit filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in July 2018.

Kevin Heidtman, who is now in his 30s, said in the lawsuit that long-time St. Charles Preparatory School teacher Monsignor Thomas Bennett, who is now deceased, sexually abused him and others and the diocese knowingly let it happen.

The abuse took place when Heidtman was a freshman from 2002 to 2003, he said. Bennett taught U.S. history and economics when he was at St. Charles from 1964 until shortly before his death in 2008.

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