Another lawsuit filed against priest accused of sexual abuse

Fr Joseph Jeyapaul now has another lawsuit filed against him for abusing a teenage girl in 2005.

Jeyapaul, who was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota, US, in a new plaintiff has been accused of abusing Jane Doe during his time at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented hundreds of victims in clergy sex-abuse cases, announced the lawsuit filed in Roseau County District Court during a news conference Thursday.

Anderson said Jane Doe was in her mid-teens at the time of the abuse, which occurred at the church rectory, according to a report by the Star Tribune.

Jane has also reported the charges to authorities in Roseau County, Anderson said.

Last year, another woman settled a $750,000 lawsuit against the Crookston Diocese over what she said were violent sexual assaults by Jeyapaul when she was around 15.

"The Diocese of Crookston regrets any harm that may have come to any person due to the actions of Fr Jeyapaul, and the hardships the parishes have endured during this difficult time," the diocese had said in a statement.

Jeyapaul was one of many foreign priests brought to the United States to help fill shortages in American parishes.
The Catholic priest left the US in 2005 just before he was charged in Minnesota with sexually assaulting Megan Peterson.

Peterson alleged that she was abused by Jeyapaul while seeking advice about becoming a nun.

In March, this year, the Tamil Nadu police traced Jeyapaul to a church in Erode and arrested him on charges of child molestation.

Police reportedly had detained Jeyapaul after Interpol had issued an alert on his arrest.