SAN FRANCISCO—The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is facing a fifth lawsuit over a former priest accused of sexually abusing multiple children.
A woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday, saying she was molested in 1995 by Stephen Kiesle when she was 10. According to the lawsuit, Kiesle got to know the plaintiff’s family as a parish priest in Pinole in the 1970s.
The Alameda County Superior Court lawsuit accuses the diocese with negligence for failing to warn parishioners during the ’70s that Kiesle already had been the target of sexual abuse allegations.
Kiesle was defrocked in 1987.
He pleaded no contest in 2004 to molesting the plaintiff in his Truckee home and served prison time.
A diocese spokesman says he still hasn’t seen the latest complaint and can’t comment.