Knowledge of clergy sex abuse is widespread on the mainland of the United States. But it has long been a secret in the small, overwhelmingly Roman Catholic U.S. territory of Guam.
Washington-based investigative reporter Michael Biesecker, working with Atlanta-based enterprise photographer David Goldman and Seattle video journalist Manuel Valdes, helped to puncture that veil of silence when AP examined thousands of pages of court documents in lawsuits brought by abuse victims and then conducted extensive interviews.
Through careful and thorough reporting, the team detailed a pattern of repeated collusion among predator priests, with abuse that spanned generations and reached all the way to the top of the territory’s church hierarchy, ruled over by then-Archbishop Tony Apuron, who himself had been accused of the rape of a 13-year-old choir boy when Apuron was his parish priest. Rapes and other abuses continued as Apuron rose through the church ranks to become the territory’s prelate, his accusers allege.
Biesecker read case files for each of the 223 lawsuits filed by abuse survivors, tracking the number of complaints against each of the accused and noting similarities. From there, he worked with lawyers to set up on-camera interviews with seven key survivors.
Walter Denton, a former Army sergeant, salutes a U.S. flag on a nearby cliff of a military base during the morning broadcast of the national anthem as he swims with his brother in Agat, Guam, May 11, 2019. “It helped me to stay focus every single day,” Denton says of his time in the military and coping with a sexual abuse by a priest over 40 years ago, allegations detailed in a lawsuit. “Every morning I looked forward to putting on my uniform and going to work. It was a distraction.” Former Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron denies the allegations.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Robby Perez, who says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by a priest when he was 11 years old in Guam, sits at a traffic light during sunset in New Orleans, where he now lives, June 12, 2019. Perez says he endured five years of sexual abuse, never telling anyone. Toward the end, he says, he fell in love with the priest, David Anderson. But when he professed his feelings, Anderson ended their relationship, saying he had to put God first. When reached by the AP, Anderson said, “I was young, the person was young ... It’s a long, long time ago.”
AP Photo / David Goldman
Robby Perez, who says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by a priest when he was 11 years old in Guam, is photographed in New Orleans, where he now lives, June 12, 2019.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Students pose for photos after a Mass to celebrate their school graduation in Hagatna, Guam, May 7, 2019. More than 85% of the U.S. territory’s 165,000 residents identify as Catholic. By comparison, it’s 36% in Boston, one of the most Catholic cities on the mainland.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Leo Tudela recalls his allegations of sexual abuse at age 13 by a monk at the Saint Fidelis Friary, seen in the background, in Hagatna, Guam, May 9, 2019. Tudela was eventually moved to live in the rectory of another church where Father Louis Brouillard took interest in him. That began an eight-month period during which Tudela alleges he was regularly raped and molested. “We’re all human beings so there is always forgiveness but this person I don’t think God will forgive him,” he said. Brother Mariano Laniyo and Brouillard are now dead. Brouillard acknowledged abuse allegations before he died.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Leo Tudela, left, is embraced by Everett Torregrosa after bringing food to his home in Hagatna, Guam, May 9, 2019. “We're like brothers,” said Torregrosa of Tudela who checks on him periodically after learning they each were victims of sexual abuse by priests when they were boys.
AP Photo / David Goldman
On May 9, 2019, Leo Tudela becomes emotional while visiting the beach where he says he was sexually abused as a boy by a priest on a Boy Scout outing in Yona, Guam. “In those days the Catholic priests and the brothers are like God. You don't question them,” he said. The Rev. Louis Brouillard acknowledged abuse allegations before he died.
AP Photo / David Goldman
On May 9, 2019, Ramon De Plata stands at the foot of the steps to the rectory at Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey in Chalan Pago, Guam, where he alleges that when he was 10 years old he walked into Father Antonio Cruz’s bedroom and saw Cruz and his protege, seminarian Anthony Apuron, engaged in sex acts with a boy from his school. “He was calling me to join them,” recounted De Plata. “It really messed me up growing up. Even now, I'm always on guard.” De Plata says his family complained to the village commissioner, the equivalent of the local mayor, but no apparent action was taken. Cruz is dead, and Apuron denies the allegations.
AP Photo / David Goldman
A framed photo of former Archbishop Anthony Apuron lays among discarded items on the floor of the former Accion Hotel, which was a seminary but is now vacant and for sale by the Catholic Church, in Yona, Guam, May 8, 2019. In April the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis had upheld the findings of a secret church trial that found Apuron guilty of sex crimes against children. Anthony Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in lawsuits.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Tourists pose for photos at a sign along a popular beach in Tamuning, Guam, May 11, 2019. Isolated on an emerald green hunk of volcanic rock closer to Tokyo than Honolulu, Guamanians often like to joke that whatever happens on the mainland takes a long time to reach them. While the U.S. Catholic Church has been roiled by the child sexual abuse scandal for nearly two decades, the island’s faithful are still reckoning with new revelations from survivors long shamed into silence by men who claimed divine authority to cloak their sins.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Roland Sondia is comforted by his son, Daniel, 19, while visiting the grave of his mother, Rosalia, on Mother’s Day at Our Lady of Peace Memorial Gardens along with his wife, Frances, right, in Yona, Guam, May 12, 2019. “She would have been devastated,” said Sondia of his mother passing before he made public his story of sexual abuse as a boy by a priest she admired. “I just feel like she needed to know before she left us.”
AP Photo / David Goldman
A swimming hole where dozens say they were sexually assaulted when they were boys by Father Louis Brouillard is seen on the Lonfit River in Ordot, Guam, May 6, 2019. In his three decades on the island, Brouillard appears to have been Guam's most frequent abuser, with at least 124 accusers. Brouillard volunteered as a swimming instructor, filming boys nude and sexually assaulting them at the jungle swimming hole. Brouillard acknowledged abuse allegations and is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Walter Denton shows a tattoo of a cross as he rests at the side of a boat while swimming in the ocean in Agat, Guam, May 11, 2019. Denton, one of more than 200 former altar boys, students and Boy Scouts who are now suing Guam’s Catholic archdiocese for sexual abuse, still thinks about what happened almost every day. After decades away from the church, the former altar boy is once again attending Mass. “People ask me, ‘Walter, how are you doing?’ And I say I’m blessed. God has blessed me.”
AP Photo / David Goldman
Mark Apuron, who says he was raped by his uncle, Archbishop Anthony Apuron when he was 15, sits in the backyard of the home he’s staying at in Dededo, Guam, May 13, 2019. He never found the right words to tell his parents what happened. “I didn't think I would be believed,” he said, tearing up. “I thought I was the only one.” Over time, Mark Apuron and his parents drifted apart – a rift he says began the day his father’s brother raped him. Anthony Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
B.J. Cruz, a former vice speaker of the Guamanian Senate, is photographed in his office which overlooks the island’s main cathedral, Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, in Hagatna, Guam, May 7, 2019. A clergy sexual assault survivor himself, Cruz introduced a bill in 2010 to lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits, opening a two-year window to seek compensation.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Troy Torres, 38, poses for a portrait with his kitten Lightbulb, in Hagatna, Guam, May 10, 2019. Torres alleges he was sexually molested at age 13 by Ray Caluag, the music and religion teacher at Saint Anthony Catholic School where he attended. “There are a lot of sick people on this island and there are so many institutions who cover it up,” said Torres. “And these are kids, you know. I just don’t understand how there can be so many people who claim to care about the future of this island, the kids, and yet they do nothing to protect kids.” The AP was unable to reach Caluag for comment.
AP Photo / David Goldman
A sign for a street named after Archbishop Felixberto Camacho Flores, Guam's first bishop to have been born on the island, stands outside the main cathedral, Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, in Hagatna, Guam, May 6, 2019. According to a recently filed lawsuit, Flores allegedly exposed himself in 1966 to an 11-year-old schoolboy inside a cathedral. Streets on Guam are often named for bishops and priests, including some now accused of sexually abusing children. Flores is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes, who was sent to the island in 2016 following his predecessor’s suspension, prepares to deliver Mass at Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna, Guam, May 7, 2019. “It's horrific,” Byrnes conceded. “The sins of the fathers are left to the children. ... It's important for the Church of Guam to confront, in a good way, the evil that we found, and to acknowledge it, and to own it,” Byrnes said.
AP Photo / David Goldman
The sky at sunset is reflected in the windows of the island’s main cathedral, Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, during a Mass in Hagatna, Guam, May 7, 2019. The towering white cathedral built on the site of the island's first church dominates the skyline of Hagatna, Guam’s capital.
AP Photo / David Goldman
A statue of Pope John Paul II stands outside the island’s main cathedral, Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, during a Mass in Hagatna, Guam, May 7, 2019. Those old enough to remember often cite the pontiff's visit to the predominantly Catholic island in 1981 as the most thrilling event of their lifetimes, memorialized by the bronze statue of the now-sainted pope designed to slowly rotate on a concrete pedestal.
AP Photo / David Goldman
A fitness boot camp gathers near a statue of Archbishop Felixberto Camacho Flores, Guam’s first bishop to have been born on the island, in Hagatna, Guam, May 8, 2019. According to a recently filed lawsuit, Flores allegedly exposed himself in 1966 to an 11-year-old schoolboy inside a cathedral. Flores is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
Tablets of the Ten Commandments stand outside Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church as a parishioner leaves a Mother’s Day Mass, in Toto, Guam, May 12, 2019.
AP Photo / David Goldman
A poster addressing sexual abuse within the Catholic church hangs as parishioners pray at a church in Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019. Under new leadership, the church on Guam has begun implementing reforms intended to curb abuse. Priests are now forbidden from being alone with children and confessionals are being retrofitted with glass doors.
AP Photo / David Goldman
On the island, Goldman conducted additional interviews with at least five more for a series of powerful portraits showing each person with a picture of himself at around the age when they say they were abused by Catholic clergy. Valdez captured the anguish of the survivors, many of whom told them on camera for the first time, breaking down in tears. Freelance reporter Grace Garces Bordallo provided invaluable local knowledge and helped with fact-checking. The package included a text and video explainer on how deeply Catholicism is ingrained in daily life on the island.
The team tracked down a priest accused of abuse in Hawaii. They found him living in a home with children and interviewed him on camera. They also traced Apuron to an address in New Jersey, although residents of the home denied knowledge of him. (Apuron continues to deny the accusations. However, a secret church trial last year found him guilty of sex crimes against children, removing him from his public ministry and effectively exiling him from Guam.)
Biesecker came to realize the extent of clergy abuse lawsuits on Guam almost by accident. He was researching federal court records on abuse by scoutmasters who were also priests when he saw the high number of lawsuits on Guam. Digging further, he learned more about the accusations against the archbishop and saw a broader story.
In a series of phone calls, Biesecker convinced a lawyer representing most of the victims to provide access to her clients, if they chose to speak with him. Biesecker then worked to secure interviews with key survivors whose accounts he had read about in the lawsuits, including the archbishop’s own nephew.
In New Orleans, June 12, 2019, Robby Perez, 48, holds a photo of himself when he was 14 years old, the age when he says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused as an altar boy in Guam by David Anderson, a former priest now living in Hawaii. Perez says he endured five years of sexual abuse, never telling anyone. Toward the end, Perez says, he fell in love with the priest. But when he professed his feelings, Anderson ended their relationship, saying he had to put God first. When reached by the AP, Anderson said, “I was young, the person was young ... It’s a long, long time ago.”
AP Photo / David Goldman
In New Orleans, June 12, 2019, Robby Perez, 48, holds a photo of himself when he was 14 years old, the age when he says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused as an altar boy in Guam by David Anderson, a former priest now living in Hawaii. “It’s part of being a good Catholic, protecting the church,” Perez said. “It’s like you’re in the Mafia. You know there’s all kinds of unsavory things going on, but you don’t turn on your family.” Perez says he endured five years of sexual abuse, never telling anyone. Toward the end, Perez says, he fell in love with the priest. But when he professed his feelings, Anderson ended their relationship, saying he had to put God first. When reached by the AP, Anderson said, “I was young, the person was young ... It’s a long, long time ago.”
In Hagatna, Guam, May 10, 2019, Roland Sondia, 57, holds a photo of himself when he was about 15 years old, the age when he says he was sexually abused by then Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron. Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Leo Tudela, 75, looks up at a photo of himself when he was 13 years old, the age when he says he was sexual molested by Brother Mariano Laniyo while living in a monastery and later by Louis Brouillard, a Catholic priest and scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America., in Hagatna, Guam, Monday, May 13, 2019. “I want to tell him right straight in his face, ‘How could you do that to young boys? If that was your son would you do it?’”
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Leo Tudela, 75, holds a photo of himself when he was 13 years old, the age when he says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by Brother Mariano Laniyo while living in a monastery and later by Louis Brouillard, a Catholic priest and scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America. Laniyo and Brouillard are now dead. Brouillard acknowledged abuse allegations before he died.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Melvin Duenas, 58, sits beside a photo of himself when he was 11 years old, the age when he says he was sexual abused by Tomas Camacho and Louis Brouillard, both Catholic priests at the churches where Duenas served as an altar boy. “We were taught that when we see a priest we run over there and kneel down,” said Duenas. “We looked at them as God himself. I always wanted to be a priest myself. I told my dad shortly after (the abuse happened) and he hit me and said ‘don’t ever talk about a priest like that.’ I tried to commit suicide. I was so upset at God. I tried to numb my thoughts and started drinking. I was a drug addict by the age of 15. A lot of darkness, it just follows me.” Camacho and Brouillard are now dead. Brouillard acknowledged abuse allegations before he died.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 11, 2019, Troy Torres, 38, stands behind a photo of himself when he was about 12 years old. Torres says in a lawsuit he was sexually molested at age 13 by Ray Caluag, the music and religion teacher at Saint Anthony Catholic School where he attended. “I always thought it was my fault. I always thought that I was a really bad person for not shouting out ‘No get away from me. No don’t do this.’ Many times I questioned my courage. Why wasn't I brave enough?” The AP was unable to reach Caluag for comment.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Walter Denton, 55, stands behind a photo of himself when he was about 12 years old. Denton says he was raped at age 13 by then-Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron. “This whole thing changed my whole life,” said Denton. “He took everything from me. From that day forward my demeanor changed. I break down, I hurt everyday and I still hurt. It’s something that I’ll never get over.” Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Walter Denton, 55, holds a photo of himself when he was about 12 years old., in Hagatna, Guam, Monday, May 13, 2019. Denton says he was raped at age 13 by then-Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron. Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 11, 2019, a 58-year-old sexual abuse survivor who would only go by the initials C.M.V. sits behind a photo of himself when he was about 11 years old. C.M.V. says in a lawsuit he was sexually molested between the ages of 9 and 13 by Monsignor Jose Ada Leon Guerrero, a priest at the time at Nino Perdido y Sagrada Familia Catholic Church where C.M.V. served as an altar boy. “I try not to think about it,” said C.M.V. about his abuse before becoming too overcome with emotion to continue talking about it. Guerrero is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 11, 2019, a 58-year-old sexual abuse survivor who would only go by the initials C.M.V. holds a photo of himself. C.M.V. says in a lawsuit he was sexually molested between the ages of 9 and 13 by Monsignor Jose Ada Leon Guerrero. Guerrero is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Anthony Vegafria, 59, sits behind a photo of himself when he was 13 years old, the age when he says he was sexually abused by Louis Brouillard, a Catholic priest and scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America. Brouillard has acknowledged abuse allegations and is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Anthony Vegafria, 59, holds a photo of himself when he was 13 years old, the age when he says in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by Louis Brouillard, a Catholic priest and scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America. Brouillard has acknowledged abuse allegations and is now dead.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 10, 2019, Roland Sondia, 57, holds a photo of himself when he was about 15 years old, the age when he says he was sexually abused by then Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron. “I did a good job of hiding it. It's something I'll take to my grave,” Sondia says. Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 10, 2019, Roland Sondia, 57, holds a photo of himself when he was about 15 years old, the age when he says he was sexually abused by then Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron. Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Ramon De Plata, 65, stands behind a photo of himself when he was about 10 years old, the age when he says he walked into Father Antonio Cruz’s bedroom and saw Cruz and his protege, seminarian Anthony Apuron, engaged in sex acts with a boy from his school.
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Mark Apuron, 45, sits beside a photo of himself when he was 15 years old, the age when he says he was raped by his uncle, former Archbishop Anthony Apuron, at the church rectory., in Hagatna, Guam, Monday, May 13, 2019. “Everything happened so fast,” he recalls. “But that one second, for me, it never stops.”
AP Photo / David Goldman
In Hagatna, Guam, May 13, 2019, Mark Apuron, 45, holds a photo of himself when he was 15 years old, the age when he says he was raped by his uncle, former Archbishop Anthony Apuron at the church rectory. Anthony Apuron denies the allegations, which are detailed in a lawsuit.
AP Photo / David Goldman
The care and sensitivity of the reporting team were key to the project’s power.
Having conducted interviews with survivors of violence and sexual assaults earlier in his career, Biesecker knew that pressing the victims too hard to talk about painful childhood experiences could retraumatize them. Instead, he often began by asking about their home villages, their families and other more benign topics before slowly turning the conversation to what the priests had done.
Biesecker spoke very little during these encounters, encouraging survivors to tell their stories at their own pace, revealing only as much as they felt comfortable. Eventually, some of the survivors chose to talk on camera about memories so painful they had repressed them for decades, not even sharing the troubling details with their parents or spouses. After the interviews were over, Biesecker went back to them days or weeks later to make absolutely sure that the survivors were comfortable with him writing about such deeply personal details. They all agreed.
“To see my story told in this way gives me a lot of peace, that I have a purpose,” said Walter Denton, a former U.S. Army sergeant and survivor of abuse nearly 40 years ago.
For telling a sensitive and little-known story of systemic clerical abuse dating from the 1950s to as recently as 2013, Biesecker, Goldman and Valdes share AP’s Best of the Week award.