In another affidavit, Kenneth T. McCabe, a retired FBI special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Division who is now a Florida-based fraud examiner, states that he examined “video footage” that he says supports the orgy allegation.
Citing the video footage and other evidence, McCabe states in the affidavit his view that “there is strong evidence of capability, opportunity, and motive on the part of the defendants in this case.”
You can read McCabe's full affidavit below.
McCabe’s affidavit does not elaborate on the contents or source of the footage. But in an email to CNA, Gorgia’s attorney, Raymond W. Belair, said the video is “not of the orgy itself, but of an interview” with the man who made the original orgy allegation, Thomas Munoz.
The interview with Munoz was conducted in 2004 by Steve Brady, the president of an Illinois-based group, The Roman Catholic Faithful, Belair said. According to the group’s website, its goal is “to rid the Catholic Church of clerical corruption.”
The Springfield diocese’s internal investigation was led by former Illinois district attorney Bill Roberts.
The report states: “Thomas Munoz, an area resident, claimed to have participated in sexual activities with Bishop Lucas, five priests and three unnamed seminarians. The investigation finds with certainty that allegation was false.”
The report makes no mention of any video footage related to the orgy accusation. The diocese told CNA: “We have requested that the parties affiliated with this lawsuit submit any allegations not covered in this 2006 special report directly to our Special Panel for Clergy Misconduct. They have declined to submit anything in response to that request.”
Belair, the plaintiff’s attorney, told CNA in an email that Brady, of The Catholic Faithful group, “provided Mr. Roberts with all of the material he had concerning the orgy, including the video-recorded interview, a transcript of that interview of Mr. Munoz and a list of many of the witnesses, including seminarians who were present at the orgy.”
Belair said in an email to CNA that while Roberts had access to this information, the special panel charged with issuing the final investigative report never spoke with Munoz or any other alleged witnesses.
(Story continues below)
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The Diocese of Springfield’s 2006 “Special Panel on Clergy Misconduct” report said Munoz “has a documented history of criminal and deceptive behavior. After voluntarily submitting to a polygraph examination which he failed, Mr. Munoz has since refused to cooperate further with Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts and the panel found no merit to the allegations of Mr. Munoz.”
Belair, however, said in an email that the questioning of Munoz was flawed.
“Roberts’ investigation regarding Munoz was limited to a single question concerning the orgy: ‘Did you have sexual relations with Bishop Lucas?’” Belair wrote in an email.
“But Munoz never asserted that he, Munoz, had homosexual relations with Bishop Lucas. He asserted that Fr. Harman had homosexual relations with Bishop Lucas. That ended the questioning by the ersatz investigators.”
Belair added: “Mr. Munoz is not the only witness to the events at the orgy. We have not yet come forward with the other witnesses.”
Belair also claims that the investigation “ignored” an allegation that Bishop Lucas “subsequently and unsuccessfully solicited Munoz to engage in homosexual acts.”