Summary of Allegations Against Father Ralph Esposito:
Father Ralph Esposito was ordained a priest in 1967, who served in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. According to media reports, in 2004, he was named in a civil lawsuit that accused him of molesting an adolescent boy from 1973-1976 while assigned to Mother of Sorrows. The boy was ten years old when the sexual abuse began.
Esposito transferred to (and was eventually incardinated into) the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas in 1978. The reason for this move is not clear, but he remained in Arkansas until his voluntary retirement in 2002. Whether coincidental or not, that was the same year that dioceses across the country were retiring priests in record numbers following the national news coverage of the scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston (beginning in January 2002).
When the lawsuit was filed in 2004, the Diocese of Little Rock suspended Esposito's faculties. According to a 2019 statement by the Diocese of Little Rock, "...there have been concerns expressed about boundary violations with minors during his time...in Arkansas," but "none of the seem to rise to the level of child sexual abuse."
Esposito is still living and is believed to be residing in the New Castle, Pennsylvania, area.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Pennsylvania, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Pittsburgh may have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us.
