In 1986, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, then bishop of Mexico’s Diocese of Tehuacan, learned that a parish priest named Nicholas Aguilar had been assaulted in what was rumored to be a sexual incident. Rivera advised Aguilar to seek counseling, but soon after, Aguilar left for California, where he found work for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 1988, shortly before police filed 19 counts of felony molestation against him, Aguilar fled back to Mexico.
There, in 1994, he allegedly molested a 13-year-old named Joaquin Mendez. Twelve years later, Mendez filed a suit in Los Angeles county court, claiming that Cardinal Rivera first conspired with a cardinal in Los Angeles to get Aguilar out of Mexico, and then, after Aguilar’s abuse was discovered in Los Angeles, helped him escape back to Mexico. Mendez claimed that if it were not for this collusion, he would never have been molested. (Mendez is represented by three firms: Jeff Anderson & Associates; Drivon, Turner & Waters; and the Law Offices of Martin D. Gross.)
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