MLB Star Mariano Rivera and Wife Clara Added as Defendants in Child Sex Abuse Suit

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Mariano and Clara Rivera have now been named as defendants in an amended court filing accusing them of covering up child sex abuse
The amended court filing comes months after the MLB star and his wife were alleged to have ignored the sexual abuse of a young girl who was a member of their Refuge of Hope Church in Westchester County, N.Y.
An attorney for the Riveras previously said in a statement that "allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false"
Mariano Rivera and his wife Clara Rivera have been added as defendants in a January civil lawsuit accusing them of covering up child sex abuse.
As previously reported, the 55-year-old New York Yankees Hall of Famer and Clara were named in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in New York Supreme Court, and were alleged to have ignored the sexual abuse of a young girl who was a member of his Refuge of Hope Church in Westchester County, N.Y.
At the time, the Riveras' attorney, Joseph A. Ruta, told the New York Post in a statement that "allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false."
Now, the Riveras have been added as defendants in an amended court filing, the girl's attorney, Adam Horowitz, initially told ESPN. Horowitz said details in the filing have remained largely the same.
PEOPLE has since obtained the amended document, which was filed on April 25 and lists both Mariano and Clara as defendants — along with Refuge of Hope, which was previously named as a defendant along with an LLC that included the couple's former home address. As Horowitz told ESPN, the couple was later named as defendants after it was determined they were not connected with the LLC, which is now no longer named as a defendant.
An attorney for the Riveras did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Thursday, May 1.
Related: What to Know About Mariano Rivera's Life Since the Yankees amid Accusations He Covered Up Child Sex Abuse
The filing alleged that a minor born in 2007, identified as Jane Doe, was sexually abused by an older female minor (identified as "MG") at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Fla. during a 2018 summer internship program affiliated with the Rivera's church. The updated complaint claimed that the Riveras "separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe to remain silent about her negative experiences at the summer internship, including her abuse by MG, to avoid causing trouble for Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life Summer Internship."
Per Refuge of Hope's website, Clara served as its head pastor.
According to the complaint, the internship program "required children to reside at Ignite Life Center for the duration of the program, without parental supervision," and the church 'paid Jane Doe's expenses' in order to 'ensure she could attend the summer program.' The complaint alleges that, during a summer 2018 BBQ at the Riveras' Brook View home, MG again abused Jane Doe.
It also alleges that Jane Doe was sexually abused by Ruben Tavarez Jr., the son of the Refuge of Hope associate pastor, in August 2021.
Related: MLB Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, Wife Clara Accused of Covering Up Child Sex Abuse
The Riveras allegedly 'falsely promoted their activities and premises as being safe, moral, and otherwise free of a risk of harm when it knew or should have known otherwise," per the complaint. Similar to the previous version of the complaint, the plaintiff is still seeking a jury trial.
'The very first time they heard about these allegations was nearly four years after the alleged incident, when in 2022 a New York attorney sent a letter requesting a financial settlement,' the Riveras' attorney previously said in his New York Post statement. 'This was followed by a second letter in 2023, from a different Florida law firm, again requesting a financial settlement."
"The lawsuit, which seeks financial damages for the Riveras' alleged failure to act on alleged incidents that were never reported to them, is full of inaccurate and misleading statements which we have no doubt will not hold up in a court of law.'
Related: Mariano Rivera and Wife Clara Break Silence on Allegations They Covered Up Child Sex Abuse at Their Church
In a statement to PEOPLE back in January, Horowitz — who is representing the plaintiff — said that "parents and churchgoers should be grateful, as I am, that this brave child is coming forward to expose wrongdoers."
"Reporting sex crimes is always tough, especially when those who conceal them are powerful and popular," Horowitz said. "We are prepared to litigate this serious matter in Court."
The Refuge of Hope church was founded in the Riveras' home in 2009, when the baseball star was still a member of the New York Yankees. Following his 2013 retirement, he purchased a 107-year-old church in New Rochelle, New York. After renovations, the couple moved the operations there in 2014.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
Read the original article on People