Lawsuit: Former Orlando priests gave boys alcohol

Lawsuit: Former Orlando priests gave boys alcohol May 14, 2010 By Walter Pacheco, Orlando Sentinel

Accounts of plying boys with alcohol, showing them pornography and then molesting them are among the allegations detailed in the lawsuits against two former priests and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando....In the past five years, officials at the Diocese of Orlando have been served with 14 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of altar boys and other children at the hands of its clergymen. The Diocese settled several of those suits, paying victims more than $5 million. The victim in the suit against Vernon F. Uhran is asking for more than $25 million in damages. The suit against Richard A. Emerson seeks more than $15,000 from the Diocese. Both lawsuits were filed in Orange County during the past two weeks. Uhran, a former priest at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs, is accused of giving the victim alcohol on a "spiritual retreat" to a beach in 1970 and then molesting him, according to the suit. The victim was 14 at the time. Diocese records show Uhran had preached in at least six Central Florida parishes and Catholic schools since 1969. Multiple allegations of sexual abuse of minors forced former Bishop Norbert Dorsey to remove him from the ministry in 1992. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-05-14/news/os-orlando-catholic-priest-lawsuit-20100514_1_lawsuits-alleging-sexual-abuse-survivors-network-diocese-spokeswoman-carol-brinati