Rothstein Donatelli continues to be at the forefront of every survivor's fight to hold Church leaders accountable for unleashing vast numbers of pedophile priests into the communities of New Mexico.
In this case, our survivors' rights team is prosecuting claims involving one of the most notorious child sex abusers in the American Catholic Church: Fr. David Holley.
Early in Fr. Holley's priesthood, the Diocese of Worcester feared his constant sexual abuse of children in Massachusetts threatened scandal. Rather than remove him from the priesthood, Worcester ordered Fr. Holley to New Mexico, where he joined other pedophile priests at the Servants of the Paraclete.
From the Servants of the Paraclete, he was recruited by Fr. Wilfred Diamond to “serve” the community of Alamogordo. Fr. Holley settled in a residence across the street from the middle school, where he targeted not just Catholic children, but all children in Alamogordo in the 1960s.
In the 1990s, Fr. Holley was finally criminally prosecuted and sent to prison. But the dioceses and Catholic leadership that protected him and allowed him to commit unspeakable acts against countless children in New Mexico have largely escaped accountability.
With the stoic bravery of the plaintiff in this case, our team seeks to hold the dioceses of Worcester, Las Cruces, and El Paso accountable for their disregard of the children of New Mexico, by pressing new claims including allegation of racketeering conduct.
