Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn face two new civil lawsuits
Just one week after the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph settled a $600,000 civil lawsuit with a family swept up in the diocese’s child-pornography scandal, it faces two new suits. A lawyer representing two Missouri girls filed civil suits Tuesday against the diocese, Bishop Robert Finn (who already pleaded guilty to misdemeanors during the scandal) and the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.
In August, Ratigan pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of producing child pornography. He’s currently in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary awaiting sentencing. The AP reports that the new suits claim Ratigan took sexually explicit photos of the children and that he might have shared them online.
