Mariano Rivera added to lawsuit alleging sexual abuse linked to his church

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Former New York Yankees star Mariano Rivera and his wife were added to a lawsuit alleging that after a young girl who belonged to a church they founded was sexually assaulted, they sought to keep her story quiet and failed to protect her from further assaults.

The lawsuit was first filed in January against the Riveras’ church, Refuge of Hope (a.k.a. Refugio de Esperanza), plus a limited liability company associated with a home owned by the Riveras where one of the assaults was alleged to have taken place. An amended complaint, filed Friday in Westchester County, New York, replaced the LLC with the longtime closer and his wife, Clara, as named defendants.

The amended filing was otherwise similar to the original one, plaintiff’s attorney Adam Horowitz told ESPN. The complaint alleges that the girl, said to have been born in 2007 and identified by a pseudonym in the filing, attended services at Refuge of Hope. A website for the church says it was founded in 2009 at the Riveras’ home before its growth led to the acquisition of a former Presbyterian church in New Rochelle, New York. Clara Rivera is listed as its senior pastor.

An attorney reported to be representing the Riveras, Joseph A. Ruta, did not immediately respond Wednesday evening to a request for comment. In January, Ruta told the Associated Press that the Riveras were being “targeted by false allegations.”

According to the lawsuit, Clara Rivera recommended to the girl’s mother in or around 2018 that the girl attend a summer internship at Ignite Life Center, a church located in Gainesville, Florida. Refuge of Hope was said to have paid for the expenses associated with the internship, which had a provision that children in the program reside at Ignite Life Center without parental supervision. While there, per the lawsuit, the girl was sexually abused by another female internship attendee, then also a minor, who was described as “a much older camper” who also attended Refuge of Hope. When a phone call from the girl to her mother led the latter to be concerned for her daughter’s safety, per the lawsuit, the mother contacted Clara Rivera, who promised to investigate. Clara and Mariano Rivera were said to have traveled from New York to Florida to see the girl at Ignite Life Center.

According to the lawsuit, the Riveras then “each separately isolated and intimidated [the girl] to remain silent about her negative experiences at the summer internship, including her abuse … to avoid causing trouble” for their church and for the Ignite Life internship.

When the summer camp ended, with the girl’s mother allegedly having been assured by the Riveras that her daughter was in no danger, the girl and the older camper were said to have returned to New York to attend Refuge of Hope. Later in the summer of 2018, a barbecue was held by the church at a property then owned by the Riveras in Rye, New York. The event was said to have been provided for children from the church, with at least some of their parents not invited.

The older camper again abused the girl at the barbecue, per the lawsuit, engaging in acts that would “constitute a sexual offense” under New York’s penal code. The Riveras “failed to inform [the girl’s] parents of the risk of harm” the host couple knew or should have known was posed at the barbecue by the older camper, the complaint stated.

The girl was also sexually abused in 2021, according to the lawsuit, by an adult male who served as a youth leader at Refuge of Hope. He was said to have subsequently forced her to “engage in graphic electronic communications of a sexual nature for several months” before the girl’s mother learned of it and confronted him. Others associated with the church knew or should have known, per the lawsuit, that the man “had a propensity to engage in sexual misconduct with children he encountered by virtue of his leadership role … yet they took no action” to protect the girl.

Horowitz told the Associated Press in January that while the girl and her mother filed police reports in New York and Florida following the episodes of alleged abuse, he was not aware of any criminal charges having been brought against the Riveras or their church. Ignite Life Center settled three lawsuits last year, according to Florida public media outlet WUFT, that alleged the church enabled and covered up incidents of sexual abuse of minors.

Rivera, 55, played for the Yankees from 1995 until his retirement in 2013 and helped the team win five World Series titles. Widely regarded as the best relief pitcher ever, he became the first player unanimously elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.