A woman sued the Catholic Diocese of Crookston on Thursday for more than $50,000, alleging that in 2004, when she was 15, her parish priest in Greenbush, Minn., the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul, sexually abused her.
It's an unusual case because the alleged abuse by the priest is said to have happened relatively recently and because Jeyapaul apparently fled the country in 2005.
Most cases that came to light in recent years involved abuse dating back 25 to 50 years.
Jeyapaul worked in the diocese less than a year before returning to India in September 2005, more than a year before the diocese learned of the girl's allegations, said Monsignor David Baumgartner, vicar general of the diocese, which includes about 35,000 Catholics in northwest Minnesota. Baumgartner said the diocese saw the girl's allegations as credible.
Attorney Steven Anderson in Warroad, Minn., filed the lawsuit Thursday in Roseau County Court. He's working with attorney Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, who also signed the filing; the Andersons are not related.
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Jeffrey Anderson is well-known for the hundreds of millions of dollars he has sought and often won from Catholic dioceses across the nation in sexual abuse cases.
