Dozens more in Pa., Ohio claim abuse by friar
by JOHN SEEWER,Associated Press
Feb 24, 2013 | 891 views | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2011 file photo, attorney Mitchell Garabedian speaks at a news conference in Boston. Garabedian said Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, that the suicide death of Franciscan brother Stephen Baker, accused of sexually abusing students at schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania, won't affect claims by alleged sexual abuse victims at Warren Ohio's John F. Kennedy High School three decades ago. The Pennsylvania claims also will proceed, attorneys in those cases said earlier. Baker, 62, was found dead of a self-inflicted knife wound at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 26, according to Blair Township police. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2011 file photo, attorney Mitchell Garabedian speaks at a news conference in Boston. Garabedian said Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, that the suicide death of Franciscan brother Stephen Baker, accused of sexually abusing students at schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania, won't affect claims by alleged sexual abuse victims at Warren Ohio's John F. Kennedy High School three decades ago. The Pennsylvania claims also will proceed, attorneys in those cases said earlier. Baker, 62, was found dead of a self-inflicted knife wound at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 26, according to Blair Township police. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)
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TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — About 50 more people have come forward to say they were sexually abused at Catholic schools in Pennsylvania and Ohio by a Franciscan brother who killed himself in January, said an attorney who settled 11 alleged abuse cases against the friar.

Brother Stephen Baker, 62, stabbed himself in the heart at a western Pennsylvania monastery on Jan. 26, a little over a week after the disclosure of financial settlements in alleged abuse cases in Warren, Ohio. A coroner told the Altoona Mirror that Baker left a short note apologizing for his actions.

The new accusers have alleged in recent weeks that they were abused between 1982 and 2007, attorney Mitchell Garabedian said Sunday. Some said Baker abused them even after he left teaching in 2000 when he would attend school events in Johnstown, Pa., Garabedian said.

The latest allegations come from people in 12 states who went to school in Warren or were either middle school or high school students in Johnstown, where Baker taught and coached, Garabedian said.

The Boston attorney said he's also heard from four people who say they were abused while Baker was at a high school in Orchard Lake, Mich.

Baker was named in legal settlements in January involving 11 men who alleged he sexually abused them at a Catholic high school in northeast Ohio three decades ago. The undisclosed financial settlements involved his contact with students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren from 1986 to 1990.

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