A lawsuit filed this week accuses Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, of covering up the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl who was a member of their church in New Rochelle, N.S. York.
Rivera, who was the New York Yankees’ closer for 17 seasons, and his wife allegedly “isolated and intimidated” the girl into keeping quiet about her abuse to avoid problems for Refuge of Hope, the church the couple helped found, the lawsuit says.
Shelter of Hope is part of the larger Assemblies of God religion and organization.
The lawsuit, filed by the girl, now 17, and her mother, neither of whom is named to protect their privacy, seeks unspecified damages for supervisory negligence and premises liability. . The Riveras are identified for their alleged roles but are not named as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, Clara Rivera, who is pastor at the church, told the mother that the girl should attend a summer internship at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Fla., another Assemblies of God church.
The complaint alleges that Refuge of Hope paid for the girl’s attendance and required her to stay in a dormitory with other children without parental supervision. Court documents say an older camper, identified in the lawsuit only as “MG,” repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl, who was about 11 at the time, in the dorm and under the shower.
The girl told her mother about the abuse, then raised her concerns with Clara Rivera, who told the mother she would investigate and respond, according to the lawsuit. But the situation was not corrected, according to court documents, and the Riveras allegedly told the mother that the girl was “safe and harmless.”
“Rather than taking sufficient action to stop Jane Doe’s sexual abuse, the Riveras separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe into remaining silent about her abuse by ‘MG’ in order to avoid causing trouble at the Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life summer internship,” the complaint states.
The abuse continued at the Riveras home during a barbecue after the girl returned from the internship, according to the lawsuit. The couple allegedly did not invite parents to the event, only children from the church, and the girl was left unsupervised with “MG”, even after learning of the abuse.
The Riveras are accused of failing to take appropriate action and handling the allegations internally to “avoid scrutiny, public scandal and potential financial losses from allegations of child sexual abuse that would become public information,” the lawsuit states.
Ruben Tavarez Jr., a youth leader at Shelter of Hope who is the son of an associate pastor, is accused of abusing the girl in 2021, including “graphic electronic communications of a sexual nature.” It ended when the girl’s mother confronted Tavarez, according to the lawsuit.
Last month, Assemblies of God affiliates settled three lawsuits alleging similar abuse of minors. A former Ignite Life Center staffer has reached a plea deal in connection with sexual abuse.
