Former Holt CEO accused of sex abuse.
Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard
A lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that former Holt International CEO David Cousineau sexually molested an underage girl for four years while he served as a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s.
Cousineau resigned from the Holt position in April, two months after the adoption agency learned he had once been accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy in California. An independent law firm hired by Holt couldn't substantiate those allegations, but the agency decided the accusation had impaired Cousineau's ability to manage Holt.
The plaintiff in the new suit said in a telephone interview that she decided to file after learning Cousineau worked in a job involving children.
"I heard he worked with orphans, and I just thought that was a scary situation," she said. "I felt I had to come forward and that something needed to be done."
Holt learned the woman was considering litigation during its own review of Cousineau's past, said Kevin Sweeney, the agency's interim director. He said he was unaware that a suit had been filed and couldn't comment without seeing it.
Cousineau had very little contact with children, and only in group settings, during his one-year tenure as Holt CEO, Sweeney said.
The suit alleges that Cousineau sexually molested the woman between 1970 and 1974 when he was a priest and she was a parishioner at Our Lady of Peace parish school in North Hills, Calif. The woman said she was 11 years old when the abuse began.
The suit further accuses Cousineau of having been a "serial pedophile" who abused an undetermined number of children.
Cousineau didn't respond to telephone messages seeking comment Thursday, nor did the Los Angeles archdiocese's media relations office.
At the time of his resignation, Cousineau said the initial accusation against him was false but that he felt he had little choice but to step down. He said he and his wife, Elizabeth, planned to stay in the Eugene area and that he hoped to find new work with children and families at risk.
Cousineau isn't listed as a defendant in the new suit - because the statute of limitations against him has expired, said Anthony DeMarco, a Beverly Hills lawyer representing the plaintiff. The suit instead lists the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the North Hills parish school as defendants, along with other unnamed parties. It seeks unspecified damages.
The woman said she is now 43 and lives in Arizona after working as a restaurant manager for many years. She said she was molested at least 30 to 40 times, and continues to suffer serious medical and emotional problems as a result.
Cousineau worked as a priest for 18 years in the Los Angeles area parishes before leaving the priesthood. He's among 210 priests, deacons, brothers, seminarians and one bogus priest accused of abusing children between 1930 and 2003, according to a report released earlier this year by the Los Angeles archdiocese.
The archdiocese made the list public as part of its ongoing effort to eradicate child sexual abuse and to keep victims informed. Inclusion on the list doesn't automatically indicate guilt, the report said.
In a 1994 civil suit noted in the report, a man claimed that Cousineau started molesting him over three years beginning in 1970. The suit was dismissed before it went to trial, but the man used a legal window opened by the California Legislature last year to refile.
The suit didn't surface in a criminal background check of Cousineau before he was hired at Holt, officials have said. Cousineau revealed that he had served as a priest, but didn't disclose the suit or allegation of abuse.
Before coming to Eugene, Cousineau had been president of Seattle Children's Home, an agency providing mental health care for children, young adults and their families. He also managed a Catholic Charities agency in Southern California that assisted refugee families.
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