Posted on 08/05/2004 3:33:18 AM PDT by sidewalk
ALBANY - A former Gloversville priest who recently stepped down from the ministry and dropped extortion charges against a former male prostitute he befriended is now the focus of $2.5 million civil suit lodged against the Albany Diocese.
The 64-page suit filed by attorney John Aretakis, who represents numerous alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, includes allegations that Rev. David Tressic sexually abused Steven Hall, 33, of Cortland, as an adult over a three-year period, as well as accusations against the diocese.
According to Aretakis, the suit was filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York. "I've made mistakes in my life - I'm no angel, but to be raped, sodomized and deceived is illegal at any age," said Hall during a press conference at the Albany County Courthouse. "You (Tressic) said you wanted to be my father, but you were a sick man who needed help."
Tressic, 61, quietly resigned as pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Gloversville in July following two years of claims from Hall that the priest had inappropriate sex with him during the late 1990s and up to 2002.
No reason was given for Tressic's exit, but he was at one time being investigated by the Albany Diocesan Review Board for his alleged homosexual relationship with Hall.
Last year, Hall was facing up to seven years in prison after Tressic filed a criminal complaint in Fulton County Court that alleged Hall was attempting to extort $75,000 by threatening he would go public with his story if the priest didn't hand over the cash.
But in a strange turn of events, Tressic dropped all charges against Hall and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office walked away from the case Prosecutors said they would have had a tough time proving extortion on Hall's part since Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard tried to mediate the dispute.
The final ruling came in February when Fulton County CourtJudge Polly Hoye dropped the charges against Hall based on sealed grand jury testimony.
She said there were "weak points" to the case against Hall, but still felt it was her duty to make negative statements against him, but not Tressic, who allegedly paid Hall for sex early on in their friendship.
Now Hall and his attorney, Aretakis, have decided to turn the tables on Tressic by filing a $2.5 million suit that also points blame at Hubbard for Tressic's alleged actions.
If the case goes to trial, Hubbard could face taking the stand and answering questions from Aretakis.
Aretakis says he'll also try to prove that Hubbard and diocese lawyer Michael Costello covered up "massive" amounts of sexually inappropriate behavior on the part of priests by using contacts with law enforcement agencies and district attorneys to "thwart or inhibit" civil or criminal complaints against diocese priests.
"I guarantee you the day before the court orders the bishop to testify he will either pay the settlement or file bankruptcy, because Hubbard doesn't want to take an oath," said Aretakis, who received a settlement from the diocese nine years ago but has since seen all his civil suits get thrown out, mostly due to statute of limitations laws.
He is also contending that charges made against Hall in Fulton County were "illegal and conspiratorial" considering Tressic and his attorney, Janet Charney, had already "falsely" stated they would pay Hall a $75,000 settlement while they secretly set in motion criminal charges against Hall.
"He (Hall) had no lawyer and went to the bishop in good faith to negotiate, and they had him arrested, charged and indicted," said Aretakis. "That's what you get when you go to Hubbard and the diocese without a lawyer." Hall met Tressic in 1996 when he was a homeless drug addict working as a prostitute in Albany's Washington Park.
After getting to know each other, Tressic asked the then-24-year-old to come live with him at the rectory, where Hall spent several years living and working as a handyman.
During that time, Hall claims there was "no consensual sexual contact" between the two of them, but he does accuse Tressic of sexually molesting him when he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
With the financial help of Tressic, Hall eventually cleaned up his act and enrolled at the State University at Cortland, where he was a little more than a semester away from completing his degree when Tressic's criminal charges forced him to withdraw.
The two had a falling out in 2002, which prompted Tressic to stop assisting Hall financially and set the ball rolling for the involvement of Hubbard in working out a cash settlement between both parties.
Diocese spokesperson Kenneth Goldfarb said Hubbard only attempted to get both parties to come to a "mutual agreement," but that the church itself never offered Hall any money and had nothing to do with any criminal charges against him.
However, Aretakis contends that Tressic was ordered to pull away from the criminal case by diocese officials because there was a good chance that Hubbard would have been asked to testify at some point in the trial.
Goldfarb said he had no knowledge of whether or not Tressic was forced by diocese officials to step away from testifying in a case he brought against Hall. He also would not discuss the details of an investigation the Diocese Review Board completed on Tressic before he stepped down.
Tressic was ordained in 1995, after having a wife and family and multi-million dollar automobile service business in Danbury, Conn.
He could not be contacted for comment.
Wow, even John Kerry doesn't wear $2.5 million suits...maybe I should read the article....Nah....
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