An elderly Los Angeles’ widow, Michalena Jones, recently filed suit against a Catholic priest, Father Peter Valdez. She claims that the Valdez took advantage of her family situation and used his influence to steal close to $300,000 from her. Reportedly, Valdez befriended Jones after her husband died. Jones claimed that he used his position to secure a down payment in sum of $150,000 on a new house for myself. Valdez then “added his name to her checking accounts which he used to make mortgage payments.” Her lawsuit claims that the reason that did this is because she has a great amount of respect for the Catholic clergy as a devout Catholic. In addition to the lawsuit against Valdez, Jones is also seeking damages from the Archdiocese for failing to intervene when they learned of the lawsuit. The Archdiocese responded by saying that they had no knowledge of the situation, and Valdez was not able for comment.
See Stuart Pfiefer, Los Angeles-Area Priest Stole From Eldelry Widow, Lawsuit Alleges, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 24, 2012.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) and Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
