Scranton Diocese to pay $3 million for abuse claims

SCRANTON - The Diocese of Scranton has agreed to pay $3 million to settle claims brought by a former altar boy who said he was sexually abused by a priest.

The man said former Roman Catholic priest Albert M. Liberatore Jr. sexually abused him from 1999 to 2002, when he was a teenage altar boy at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea.

Liberatore, now 42, pleaded guilty in 2005 in Luzerne County and New York to sexually abusing the victim. He was given 10 years' probation and defrocked.

The victim's attorney, Daniel T. Brier, said the settlement was reached late Wednesday and approved by U.S. District Judge I. Richard Caputo yesterday. The diocese will pay the settlement within 45 days.

- AP