NEW CUMBERLAND – A circuit judge has consolidated eight cases in two Northern Panhandle counties regarding sexual abuse claims against the Catholic Church.
In a February 23 order, First Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz issued an order consolidating the cases against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston before First Circuit Judge David Sims.
Four of the cases – all filed in Hancock County – involve allegations a former priest sexually abused men in the 1980s when he worked at St. Paul’s Catholic School in Weirton. One involves allegations a man was sexually assaulted by Father James J. Chetock when he attended Weirton Madonna High School in the late 1970s. Another involves allegations a man was sexually assaulted by Reverend Richard J. Schaefer while he was assigned to St. Philomena Catholic Church in Rowlesburg.
Toriseva
The other two cases involve allegations of sexual abuse by former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, who headed the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston until he retired in 2018 following a church investigation into multiple allegations of sexual harassment and financial improprieties.
Earlier in February, Sims had denied the Diocese’s motion to dismiss one of the Hancock cases regarding allegations against Reverend Victor Frobas.
In the four cases involving Frobas, the parties have agreed to mediate on April 14, according to a Joint Motion For Stay Pending Mediation filed March 3 in each case. They agreed to stay the action until April 30 pending the result of the mediation.
“Plaintiff has served written discovery on defendant, which has not been answered pursuant to agreement of counsel,” the joint motion states. “No additional discovery has been conducted by the parties.”
In his complaint filed in November, Thomas J. Spinella Jr. of Weirton says he was sexually abused by Reverend Victor Frobas while attending St. Paul’s Catholic School in Weirton in the 1980s.
“The court finds that plaintiff has sufficiently set forth a cause of action against defendant in a manner that permits plaintiff to maintain his cause of action under West Virginia statutory and common law,” Sims wrote in his order. “There has been no formal discovery in this matter and facts may be more fully developed during discovery. … The allegations in the complaint are sufficient to defeat the defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. It is accordingly.”
Spinella’s case is one of four filed last year by men who all make similar claims against Frobas. Spinella and Michael R. Valero Jr. filed their complaints November 24 in Hancock Circuit Court. Attorneys Teresa Toriseva and Joshua Miller also filed motions to consolidate these cases with two similar cases filed earlier this year in Hancock County regarding the actions of Reverend Victor Frobas.
According to the complaints, the men attended St. Paul’s Catholic School in Weirton when they were children, and both of their families were active members of the church. Spinella, who lives in Weirton, says he served as an altar boy and participated in the church Boy Scout troop.
“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 previously 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. The so-called ‘treatment methods’ themselves are stomach turning.
“The statute of limitations is tolled and extended when a defendant engages in a sustained campaign to cover up the acts of pedophilia committed against little boys. We have alleged and intend to prove that the church protected ‘Father’ Frobas, who they knew was a child molester, instead of protecting the children of the church. These four men all deserve answers. They deserve justice.”
