Another young man has accused former Roman Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack of sexual misconduct, filing a lawsuit against the Chicago Archdiocese and Cardinal Francis George in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday. The new allegation is the fifth one to surface since July 2007, when McCormack began serving a five-year sentence for molesting five boys. The archdiocese confirmed in May that four other young men had come forward — though not all of the cases had been substantiated and none of the four have sued.
The lawsuit alleges that between 2000 and 2006, McCormack "inappropriately sexually touched, hugged, rubbed, and/or abused" the plaintiff while he attended Our Lady of the Westside School, spent time at St. Agatha's church and rectory and played for a high-school-age basketball league coached by McCormack on Chicago's West Side. Get the Chicago Tribune delivered to your home for only $1 a week >>
McCormack, 41, pleaded guilty in July 2007 to abusing five boys and has served 2 1/2 years of his five-year sentence. Shortly before he was to be paroled last September, the Illinois attorney general and state's attorney filed a joint petition under the state's Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act to block his release. McCormack has remained in custody while that case is argued in court.
The law allows prosecutors to seek continued incarceration of an offender if a psychological exam leads them to believe that the inmate is likely to commit another sex crime if freed.
McCormack was removed from the priesthood in 2007.
McCormack's attorney and church officials said they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
