NEW CUMBERLAND – A Weirton man has filed a second lawsuit against the Catholic Church claiming he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a child.
Marco Thomaselli filed his complaint August 18 in Hancock Circuit Court against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Attorney Teresa Toriseva also filed a motion to consolidate Thomaselli’s case with one filed in June by a Virginia man who makes similar claims about Frobas.
“As we have alleged, we have proof that The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston actively concealed and covered up sexual assaults by priests for decades, including Frobas, and made child parishioners easy prey for Frobas and other priests,” Toriseva told The West Virginia Record. “These methods involved moving Frobas, for example, from parish to parish and included bizarre and hard to believe ‘treatment methods’ for pedophile priests.
Toriseva
“The so-called ‘treatment methods themselves are stomach turning.”
According to his complaint, Thomaselli says he and his family attended St. Paul Catholic Church in Weirton as a child. He says he also attended St. Paul’s Elementary and was a member of the Boy Scout troop based at the church. He also says he was active in the church and served as an altar boy.
One of the priests assigned to the church then was Rev. Victor Frobas, who worked for the Diocese from 1965 to 1983. Before that, Frobas worked for the Diocese of Philadelphia, where there were multiple claims alleging Frobas abused minors.
“At no time did the diocese warn or notify the parishes where Frobas worked of his history as a serial sexual abuser,” the complaint states, noting that Frobas had access to minor children including Thomaselli when he was at St. Paul’s. Thomaselli says Frobas sexually abused him.
Thomaselli says Frobas began sexually abusing him when he was 10 years old. He says it occurred at multiple locations, including Diocesan properties and a movie theater in nearby Robinson Township, Pennsylvania.
The complaint says Frobas lived in the elementary school and often would take young male students, including Thomaselli, from class to his apartment where he molested them. Frobas also was the Scoutmaster of the parish Boy Scout troop.
The complaint says the Diocese regularly reassigned and/or transferred Frobas as allegations of sexual abuse of children arose.
“Not only did the Diocese continue to employ Frobas, a pedophile priest, the Diocese moved him from parish to parish giving Frobas new and different children to sexually abuse,” the complaint states. “Instead of protecting its children, the Diocese made them prey for a pedophile.”
In 2018, the Diocese released the names of clergy who had been accused of sexual abuse of minors. Frobas’ name was on the list.
“This list, naming clergy accused of sexual abuse of minors proves that the Diocese continued to employ priests even after receiving credible reports of sexual abuse of minors by its employees,” the complaint states. “This list proves that the Diocese also knew all along that Frobas was sexually abusing children.”
Thomaselli says the list proves the Diocese continued to employ priests even after receiving credible reports of sexual abuse of minors. Thomaselli says the Diocese knew of Frobas’ background as well as credible allegations against him. Yet, he still was allowed to come to West Virginia and was “moved frequently due to suspicions of and sometimes allegations of sexual abuse if children.”
Thomaselli accuses the Diocese of vicarious liability, civil conspiracy, fraudulent concealment, sexual assault and harassment on Diocesan property and at Diocesan events as well as negligent retention, hiring and supervision.
Thomaselli says he suffered significant physical, psychological and personal injury as well as shame, embarrassment, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, past and future enjoyment of life as well as other harms and damages. He seeks compensatory damages, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
According to published reports, Frobas was sent to his home Diocese in St. Louis in 1983 for “treatment.” He pleaded guilty in 1988 of molesting two teenage boys at a church in Kirkwood, Missouri. He served 25 months of a four-year sentence for those charges. He was indicted on similar charges for in the 1970s in Massachusetts, but he died of cancer and diabetes in 1993 before that trial. Frobas was sued once in Massachusetts and twice previously in West Virginia in 1993 and 1994.
“In November of 2018, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston published a list of priests that were credibly accused of sexual abuse,” Toriseva told The Record. “The Wheeling-Charleston list includes 20 names of priests that were credibly accused of sexual abuse from 1950 to 2018.
“Father Frobas, the pedophile priest in the Pirraglia case and the newly filed Thomaselli case, is on the list. He was moved at least 17 times in one 18-year period by the Church. Imagine the harm he did at each new location. It’s morally despicable to facilitate a pedophile predator when you know of repeated instances of grooming and sexual abuse of children.
“The Church must compensate its victims.”
Thomaselli is being represented by Toriseva and Joshua Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. In other recent cases, the Diocese has been represented by James Gardill of Phillips, Gardill, Kaiser & Altmeyer in Wheeling. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz.
Hancock Circuit Court case number 20-C-65