Buffalo, NY – A Texas man who once served as an altar boy in the Southern Tier was paid $150,000 in 1994 by the Diocese of Buffalo to settle a sexual assault complaint against a priest.
Buffalo News reports that Tobin Gilman filed the complaint in 1993 for incidents of abuse that allegedly occurred when he was a boy in the 1970s. The accused priest, James Spielman, resigned the priesthood at that time and moved to Alaska.
Gilman says he came forward despite signing an agreement in the settlement to not comment publicly. He says he felt compelled to speak out in the wake of the scandal of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.