Lawsuit claims two reverends molested boy

A former student at a Huntington Beach Catholic school has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was sexually abused as a boy by a pair of priests at the school.

The 25-year-old plaintiff, referred to as “John Doe,” claims that the Rev. Alexander G. Manville, now a pastor emeritus at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church, and the Rev. Gus Krumm, who has since left the church, molested him on multiple occasions beginning in the early 1990s.

Attorney H. Shaina Colover said the plaintiff was seeking monetary damages, but would not specify how much.

Christina Sumpter, the pastoral administrator for Sts. Simon and Jude, said the church had no comment.

According to the suit, Manville molested the plaintiff after inviting him to help prepare for “religious ceremonies” at the church, even withdrawing him from the classroom to sexually abuse him. On at least one occasion, Manville and Krumm abused Doe at the same time, the suit alleges.

— Michael Miller