Doubts don't halt quest for lawsuit

Lawyers ditched man in claim against church

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

A man with a sex abuse lawsuit against the Pueblo Catholic Diocese is looking for new representation after his lawyers said they would drop him as a client.

Thomas Roy Monroe, 54, said Tuesday he has asked the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to help him pursue his claim.

David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, said he talked with Monroe and "like any survivor who asks, I told him getting professional advice, whether therapeutic, medical or legal, never hurts."

Attorney Jeffrey Herman, of Florida, on Monday said he and other lawyers intended to withdraw from the case after The Denver Post reported that in a phone conversation recorded in September 2005, Monroe said he was not an assault victim.

Adam Horowitz, one of the attorneys handling Monroe's case, said a motion to withdraw was filed Tuesday.

Monroe is among 22 former students of the now-closed Roncalli High School in Pueblo, who filed lawsuits in 2005 and 2006. They allege that they were molested by the same teacher, William Mueller, a brother with the Marianist Religious Order, between 1966 and 1971.

Monroe said Tuesday he had disavowed abuse claims in 2005 because he wanted to minimize his role as a sex abuse victim after finding himself "revictimized by all the media attention."

"In revisiting the trauma I realized I had put myself out there. I was angry and a little bit scared," he said.

He said the withdrawal by his attorneys "makes me feel abandoned and revictimized all over again."

But, he added, he is standing by his original allegations. "I'm not going to let these lawsuits go," he said.

torkelsonj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-954-5055