NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife are accused in a lawsuit of failing to protect a young girl who was was sexually abused by an older child during a summer camp trip sponsored by their church.
In a lawsuit filed this month, lawyers for the girl allege that the Hall of Fame pitcher and his wife Clara Rivera, a pastor at the Refuge of Hope Church, flew from New York to Florida to investigate after the girl’s mother expressed concerns about her daughter’s safety during the 2018 trip.
But rather than take action, the couple “isolated and intimidated” the victim into remaining “silent about her negative experiences,” including the abuse, the lawsuit says.
Joseph A. Ruta, an attorney for the Riveras, said in a statement that any allegations that they “knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false.” He said the couple only learned of the allegations in 2022 after receiving a letter from an attorney requesting a financial settlement.
“The Riveras are known throughout New York for their charitable work and especially for their commitment to serving underprivileged children,” Ruta said. “It’s unfortunate they are being targeted by false allegations.”
The lawsuit doesn’t name the accuser, but it says she was born in 2007, which would have made her 10 or 11 years old in 2018.
That summer, according to the complaint, Clara Rivera persuaded a congregant to allow her daughter to attend a camp at the Ignite Life Center, a church in Gainesville, Florida.
While staying in an unsupervised dorm room, the girl was repeatedly sexually abused by an older female camper, according to the suit. In a police report filed in 2022, the girl said there were 15 instances of inappropriate touching over a two-week period, both in her bunk and a shower.
Though the girl did not report the abuse, her mother grew worried about her safety after the two spoke on the phone call, the complaint states. The mother then outlined her concerns to Clara Rivera, who agreed to investigate, according to the suit.
During that trip, the couple “received information that should have given them concern,” the lawsuit says, but chose instead to remain silent to “avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs.” The suit doesn’t specifically state what the Riveras were told by the girl or her mother.
The girl later returned to New York and continued her active participation in the church. But later that summer, during a barbecue for congregants at the Riveras’ home in Rye, New York, she was again abused by the same person, the complaint states.
“They failed to mitigate the risks, and upon learning that she had been a victim, took no steps to protect her or get criminal justice,” the attorney who filed the lawsuit, Adam Horowitz, told The Associated Press by phone. “They continued to expose her again to the same risk at her home.”
In 2021, the girl was again sexually assaulted, this time by a male youth leader at Refuge of Hope, according to the lawsuit. The abuse in that case was discovered by the girl’s mother, who found months of electronic communications between the two, the lawsuit contends.
Afterward, the girl and her mother filed police reports in New York and Florida regarding the abuse in 2018 and 2021. Horowitz said he didn’t believe that criminal charges were brought in any of the cases. The lawsuit was filed against the Refuge of Hope church, not against the Riveras themselves.
Prosecutors in New York and Florida didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about whether they looked into the allegations.
A lawyer for Ignite Life Center did not respond to an inquiry. The church recently settled lawsuits brought by three people — also represented by Horowitz — who said they were abused as teenagers by a volunteer at Ignite Life Center. Two others affiliated with the church have been charged with lewd and lascivious battery against minors.
