A teenage girl is seeking compensatory and punitive damages after claiming she was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions at events connected to a church where Clara Rivera, wife of New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, is the senior pastor.
Additionally, the complainant alleges one of the assaults occurred at a church function held at the Riveras’ primary residence in Rye, New York.
A complaint filed in Westchester County Court names Refugio de Esperanza, a place of worship in New Rochelle, and 1 Brook View Rye, LLC, as defendants. The Riveras are not named as defendants but 1 Brook View Rye was the address of their primary residence, according to the complaint, and the church website says the church was founded in the Rivera home in 2009.
The suit alleges that the church failed to protect the plaintiff – who has filed a request for anonymity – from foreseeable harm and take corrective action, and that in one instance the Riveras “isolated and intimidated” the plaintiff to stay silent regarding an alleged assault.
In a statement issued to USA TODAY Sports, the Riveras’ lawyer Joseph A. Ruta called the allegations “completely false.”
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“Mariano and Clara Rivera do not tolerate child abuse of any kind and allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false,” Ruta said in the statement. The first time the couple learned of the allegations was in 2022 after receiving a letter from an attorney requesting a financial settlement, Ruta said.
“The lawsuit, which seeks financial damages for the Riveras’ alleged failure to act on alleged incidents that were never reported to them, is full of inaccurate and misleading statements which we have no doubt will not hold up in a court of law,” Ruta said.
The suit, filed Jan. 16 and obtained by USA TODAY Sports, gives the defendants 20 days to respond to the service of the summons; the plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, through which a monetary amount for damages would be determined. The associated LLC, and not the Riveras, is listed as a defendant in part because New York law states that landowners are responsible for actions on their property.
The lawsuit was first reported by Gainesville Public Information Services.
The suit alleges that Clara Rivera, in her role as pastor, suggested the defendant – identified as Jane A. Doe – serve a summer internship in 2018 at a Gainesville, Florida church affiliated with Refugio de Esperanza, with Refugio covering the expenses.
The complaint alleges that interns – the plaintiff was around 11 years old at the time – were required to reside at Gainesville’s Ignite Life Church without parental supervision for the duration of the internship. It was there that the plaintiff alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a much older teen girl, who was still a minor at the time.
The suit claims campers were only allowed sporadic telephone contact with their parents, but during one call the alleged victim’s mother grew concerned about her daughter’s welfare.
“In response, Ms. Rivera assured MOTHER A DOE that she would investigate MOTHER A DOE’s report and respond accordingly,” the suit alleges. “Ms. Rivera and her husband, REFUGIO employee/volunteer/agent Mariano Rivera, then traveled from New York to Florida to see JANE A DOE at the Ignite Life Summer Internship. During that trip, the Riveras, in their capacity as agents for DEFENDANTS, learned or should have learned information that JANE A DOE was being sexually abused by (the older camper).
“Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of JANE A DOE, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimated JANE A DOE to remain silent about her abuse … to avoid causing trouble for REFUGIO and the Ignite Life Summer Internship. In order to avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs and otherwise protect DEFENDANTS above all else, the Riveras, in their capacities as agents and/or employees of DEFENDANTS, assured MOTHER A DOE that JANE A DOE was safe and in no danger at Ignite Life Center, despite actual or constructive knowledge that JANE A DOE remained vulnerable to additional acts of sexual abuse.”
Three men have been accused and two convicted of sex crimes at Ignite Life Center, including Gabriel Giovani Hemenez, who was 29 when he pleaded no contest to two counts of lewd acts with a minor – a summer intern – between the ages of 12 and 16; Hemenez was sentenced to five years in prison and eight years probation. Another man pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and received three years probation.
The plaintiff and her family were longtime members of Refugio de Esperanza and after the alleged victim returned to New York, the family resumed worship at Refugio.
Later that summer, according to the suit, the church held a barbecue at the Rivera’s Rye, New York, residence for minors who were members of the church. “Parents, including, but not limited to MOTHER A DOE,” the suit alleges, “were not invited to attend the event.”
The suit alleges that the plaintiff was left alone with and subsequently sexually assaulted again by the same teen member of the church.
“At all times relevant,” the suit alleges, “DEFENDANTS had a superior knowledge of the risk of harm that JANE A DOE would be sexually abused in their care and failed to inform JANE A DOE and/or her parents of their superior knowledge of the risk of harm to JANE A DOE. 37.
“To the contrary, DEFENDANTS misrepresented to JANE A DOE and her parents that JANE A DOE was safe and sufficiently cared for while in the care and/or presence of DEFENDANTS.”
Approximately one month later, in August 2021, the suit alleges that the plaintiff was sexually abused by an adult youth leader at the church after the man “groomed and exhibited behaviors that signaled a risk that he would sexually abuse JANE A DOE. The grooming and ‘red flag behaviors” occurred while the two attended REFUGIO events and/or on premises owned, operated, and/or controlled by REFUGIO.”
The allegations, the suit says, would qualify as sex offenses under New York law.
The crux of the plaintiff’s complaints are similar in both alleged instances: That Refugio, “by and through its respective agents, managers, employees, and directors knew, or through the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that (the employee) had a propensity to engage in sexual misconduct with children he encountered by virtue of his leadership role in REFUGIO prior to 2021, yet they took no action to protect the minor JANE A DOE from him.”
Rivera, 55, remains the only player in major league history elected unanimously to the Hall of Fame and the sport’s all-time saves leader. He was the closer for five Yankees World Series championship teams, his career spanning 1995 through 2013, when he retired amid great fanfare.
The plaintiff, now 17, and her family relocated to Georgia in 2022
“I commend our young client for her bravery and commitment to truth,” Adam Horowitz, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, said in a statement. “We thank her for sounding the alarm on a potentially dangerous environment for kids. Our lawsuit alleges that Mariano and Clara Rivera had a duty to protect our client and missed the opportunity to save her from the harms of child sexual abuse.”
Said the Riveras’ lawyer: “The Riveras are known throughout New York for their charitable work and especially for their commitment to serving underprivileged children. It’s unfortunate they are being targeted by false allegations.”
Contributing: Tom Schad
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