MIAMI, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A former altar boy has sued the Miami Archdiocese, alleging the Roman Catholic priest who admitted a relationship with former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley molested him.
The accuser, identified in the lawsuit as John Doe No. 26, claims the Rev. Anthony Mercieca performed oral sex on him in the late 1970s at a church in North Miami, The Miami Herald reported.
The man, now 40, alleges the incident occurred in a parish room on a Saturday after altar boy practice and a bike ride with Mercieca, his lawyer said.
"The priest told him not to talk about it with anyone, said lawyer Jeffery Herman.
When Mercieca asked him to go for another bike ride later, the boy said no and never returned to the church, Herman said.
Mercieca, 69, lives on the Maltese island of Gozo. No one answered the phone at his home or at his lawyer's office Wednesday, the newspaper said.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta told the Herald the alleged behavior was "unknown to the archdiocese."
