A new lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami has revived a notorious case involving a former Catholic priest convicted of a string of sex offenses more than a decade ago. The most recent lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in June, is only the latest accusing the Catholic Church of failing to protect multiple underage boys from ex-priest Father Neil Doherty, a serial sexual abuser who was employed by the Archdiocese as a priest from 1969 until 2002 when he was removed.
“He is probably the most prolific pedophile priest in U.S. history. He sexually abused, we think, thousands of kids over the course of about 40 years,” said Daniel Ellis, senior lead attorney at Herman Law, the firm representing a victim identified only as John Doe 8 to protect his privacy. According to the lawsuit, Doherty groomed and raped the victim around 1995 when he was around 16 years old. The alleged abuse happened multiple times in Doherty’s residence in the mid-1990s. The lawsuit comes decades after the abuse took place and after Doherty was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in Florida prison in 2013.
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