New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, are facing serious sexual abuse allegations. Christian Arnold of The New York Post reported on Wednesday that a lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in Westchester County. The plaintiff accuses the Riveras of covering up sexual abuse while she was at a summer camp with their church.
“'Our lawsuit alleges that Mariano and Clara Rivera had a duty to protect our client and missed the opportunity to save her from the harms of sexual abuse,'” Adam Horowitz of Horowitz Law, one of the lawyers representing the victim, said in a statement provided to The Post,” Arnold wrote.
The lawsuit also accuses a minor who was older than Jane Doe abused her while at a summer internship at the Ignite Life Church in Gainsville, Florida. The Riveras allegedly learned of the abuse and “isolated and intimidated” the victim into staying silent.
Later in the lawsuit, Jane Doe outlines a barbecue at the Rivera household that was held for the children involved in the church. The alleged abuser was there and continued the behavior while at the Rivera's house in Rye, NY. She also claims that she was abused by the adult son of a pastor at the church.
Mariano Rivera and his family did not respond to a request from Arnold to comment on the story. The lawsuit states that Mariano and Clara, “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.”
The Yankees legend is in hot water with these accusations but has not spoken about them publically. A Rivera family statement is likely the next step as this story continues to unfold.