Diocese of Savannah Continues to Shrug Off Responsibility Regarding Alleged Child Sex Abuse Cover-Ups

WTOC recently broke the news that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah claims it did not know anything about former priest Wayland Yoder Brown’s history of child sex abuse, denying the existence of any cover-ups. This claim comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Tate Law Group, LLC on behalf of a survivor, Bill Baker Jr., of child sex abuse allegedly committed by Brown.

In the suit filed September 23, our firm alleges that the Diocese of Savannah had information in 1986 regarding allegations of child molestation brought against Brown. Our client suffered abuse in 1987 while attending St. James Catholic School as a second grader, thus the suit claims that the Diocese of Savannah could have prevented the abuse from occurring had they acted on the information they had regarding Brown.

Despite the 1986 transcript that serves as evidence for our suit, the Diocese of Savannah continues to claim it knew nothing and did not try to cover up instances of sexual abuse involving Brown. It can persist with this claim of innocence merely because of a technicality in the text of the document: Supposedly, the former priest never explicitly admitted that the indiscretion he had committed against young boys was of a sexual nature. However, this does not disprove much. We continue to stand by our allegations that the Diocese of Savannah knew that Brown was capable of and had a history of committing unacceptable acts against young boys, and we will be requesting a hearing before a judge.

Our attorneys at Tate Law Group, LLC will not allow for such a serious issue to be dismissed and shrugged off so easily, particularly when our client has suffered years of hardship as a result of his trauma. We believe his claims and will fight for his rights as we have done for myriad survivors for more than 25 years. Our legal team — acclaimed by the National Trial Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, the Melvin M. Belli Society, and others — are proud advocates against such abuse. Our goal is to help survivors find the justice and closure they need and deserve to move on with their lives.

Contact Tate Law Group, LLC online or call (912) 234-3030 to speak to a member of our legal team.