CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte has agreed to pay $1 million to a man who had sued, saying a priest sexually abused him when he was an altar boy in 1999.
The diocese also agreed to pay for counseling for the man, who is now 25. The man, who was an altar boy at Charlotte's St. Matthew Catholic Church when he was molested, had filed a civil lawsuit alleging that church officials covered up the sex crimes of the Rev. Robert Yurgel.
Yurgel was sentenced last year to nearly eight years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree sex offense. Officials with the diocese have said they didn't learn of any sexual misconduct allegations until Yurgel's arrest in 2008.
Seth Langson, an attorney for the plaintiff, said his client was unable to even speak of the abuse to his parents for many years. At the end of 2007, he courageously came forward and began telling others what happened to him. He wanted then to make sure that Father Yurgel never hurt another child.
The diocese said its insurance company will pay the settlement, adding that an additional $47,500 will pay for counseling and medicine for the victim.
The Charlotte bishop, the Rev. Peter Jurgis, said his prayers continue to go out to the plaintiff in this case and to all victims of sexual abuse in the hope that they may find the healing they seek.
The attorneys for the young man said they believe the $1 million payment is one of the largest settlements paid in North Carolina by a religious organization for the sexual abuse of a child.
During Yurgel's sentencing last year, the prosecutor told the judge that the victim was 14 when Yurgel began molesting him. The victim was 15, the prosecutor said, when Yurgel molested him in a church rectory.
The victim told the priest in court that Yurgel had stolen his faith and his childhood.
Yurgel's attorney, George Laughrun, has said that the Yurgel knows he sinned.
