Joseph Faraone Arrested for Sexually Abusing Mentally Disabled Female Veteran

Joseph Faraone, 68, is accused of sexually abusing a 50-year-old female patient while he worked at a Hudson Valley nonprofit called the Cerebral Palsy Association, which is a residence for brain-damaged or brain-injured persons with mental disabilities. The victim was a veteran of the military and whose mental capacity was reduced to that of a 12-year-0ld following a motorcycle accident.

Faraone has been charged with forcing the victim to perform oral sex on him in June 2015. Although other staff members witnessed and reported the abuse to supervisors, Faraone reportedly went unpunished. He again allegedly assaulted his victim in an elevator three months later. A federal lawsuit is now alleging that the nonprofit’s administrators took steps to cover up Faraone’s abuse of the victim.

Faraone was part of the priesthood at St. James the Apostle Church in Carmel for 12 years, St. Patrick’s Church in Yorktown for 11 years, and St. Francis of Assisi in Mount Kisco for nine years. Following that, he was an associate pastor at Hopewell Junction’s Church of St. Denis from 2004 to 2006. He is no longer a priest.

Adults tend to think that of sex offenders as faceless men in baseball caps and sunglasses who lurk near schools, churches, or daycare centers. In fact, molesters are more likely to be working in schools, churches, and daycare centers. California now has the third highest occurrence of school sex abuse in the United States. There have been several highly publicized incidents of clergy sex abuse in Southern California in recent decades.

Any member of society, be they a priest, a teacher, or a daycare worker, is capable of committing a sex crime, as the Faraone case alleges to show. Faraone was entrusted with the care of a mentally disabled person—charged with a sacred duty to protect and help—and he is believed to have betrayed that trust in the vilest, most heartbreaking, and most traumatizing fashion imaginable. Sadly, this sort of tale is not rare.

If you or a loved one has been molested by a teacher, healthcare worker, or a member to the clergy, then the time to seek justice is at hand. Act quickly to hire a child sex abuse lawyer and secure your rights as a victim before the evidence dries up, witnesses fade into the distance, and statutes of limitations come into effect. A tenacious, experienced sex abuse and personal injury attorney, such as the law firm of Estey Bomberger, can help you seek justice for sex crimes perpetrated against you or members of your family. Get the settlement you deserve. Contact Estey Bomberger at 1.800.925.0723.