Lawsuit Alleges Catholic Priest Groped A Cleaner And Tried To Bed Her

FOLLOWING our earlier report today about a priest’s alleged sexual assault on a female security guard at a Catholic church in New York comes news from Los Angeles that a former janitor is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, claiming she was forced to quit in 2019 after a priest groped her in the rectory and tried to coerce her into his bed.

Image via St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.

According to this report, The Long Beach woman is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in a complaint filed last Friday in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The woman alleges she was assaulted by an associate pastor named as Primitivo Gonzalez, above, from St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.

The lawsuit claims that, on the morning of July 30, 2019, the plaintiff was directed to clean the parish rectory, including Gonzalez’s private living space.

The plaintiff, who was unfamiliar with the rectory because she had not cleaned it before, encountered Gonzalez in the kitchen on the first floor, and he showed her the various rooms, including his own quarters comprising a bedroom with a private bathroom.

The plaintiff alleges she was cleaning the bathtub in Gonzalez’s bathroom with her back to the door when she “suddenly and unexpectedly felt” his arms around her and his hands groping her.

The lawsuit says:

Plaintiff was in complete shock and terror. Her mouth opened and her body froze.

When she was able to turn around, she tried to back away from Gonzalez, but he continued moving toward her with his hands still holding her. According to her court papers, he used his body to back her against the bathroom wall and tried to kiss her as she struggled and moved her head away.

Gonzalez told the plaintiff in Spanish:

Mama, I dream of you. Let’s go to the bed. I’m going to nourish you well, so I can keep you happy.

The woman says she eventually freed herself from Gonzalez and fled to the laundry room and locked the door.

The alleged assault left the plaintiff with “extreme and debilitating emotional distress” that continues today, according to her court papers. She say she left her church job at the advice of her mental health care provider in November 2019.

A representative for the Archdiocese did not immediately reply to a request for comment.