HE SURE LOOKS HEALTHY TO ME!

By Tim Rohr

Pacific Daily News Headlines:

Apuron breaks years of silence, reasserts innocence as his accusers seek dismissal of clergy sex abuse, defamation cases

Now WHY would his accusers "seek dismissal" of cases they so painfully brought into the light nearly ten years ago? 

I'm going to hazard a very good guess. But before I do that, here is the mind-boggling part of the PDN report:

Plaintiffs' counsel earlier filed in court that during a Zoom meeting, "Atty. Terlaje, on behalf of Apuron, made a settlement offer to the plaintiffs."

"Thereafter, the parties have been engaged in settlement discussions to resolve the dispute between them. The parties' settlement discussions are in line with what I recall and understood to be the Court's previous encouragement to the parties to consider resolution and the financial burden of continued litigation," the April 30 court filing stated.

Another April 30 filing stated that Apuron's counsel "made a settlement offer to Plaintiff."

Terlaje's statement, meanwhile, echoed Apuron's video message that he has never offered or entered into any settlement agreement with the plaintiffs, nor has he offered any money or other consideration to any plaintiff to resolve these cases.

"Archbishop Apuron has only asserted his willingness to execute a stipulation of dismissal to resolve the cases, as is required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure...to dismiss any case at this stage of litigation," according to Terlaje's statement.

So we have, in the court record, a record, several records, of Apuron making "a settlement offer to plaintiffs." And we have, specifically on April 30, a record that Apuron's counsel (Jackie Terlaje) "made a settlement offer to Plaintiff."

But then today we have Apuron saying that he never offered to settle, and the same Jackie Terlaje backing up Apuron's denial of a settlement.  

The gobble-de-goop that catches my attention is this paragraph:

"Archbishop Apuron has only asserted his willingness to execute a stipulation of dismissal to resolve the cases, as is required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure...to dismiss any case at this stage of litigation," according to Terlaje's statement.

So wait a minute. The headlines says that Plaintiffs are seeking the dismissal, but here it implies ("asserted his willingness to execute a stipulation of dismissal") that the stipulation was put forth by Apuron. 

And then there's the "as is required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." Huh? The Rules do not require the dismissal of a case - unless a deadline was missed or some other procedural thing. 

The most interesting thing here though are the words "at this stage of litigation." Interesting. Well, we're nearly ten years into this. Is the case too old to continue? 

Note: As far back as 2017, Apuron's counsel, Jackie Terlaje, was reported to have asked the court to for time to work on a settlement:

Apuron’s attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje, and attorneys representing the accusers asked Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to delay her decision until Dec. 31 to give them time to work on a possible settlement. - USA Today, Nov. 15, 2017

Now, WHY would they be discussing "settlement" if Apuron was innocent?

Meanwhile, I'm not surprised. I expected something like this. And here's why. 

There's no money in it for the attorneys. Lujan and Wolff already made their money in the church bankruptcy case. And Terlaje was just fighting to protect her interests in the Neocatechumenal Way. 

Apuron had no personal assets. He did at one time. But as things began to heat up back around 2014 I noticed that he sold his home in Vegas, and then another home in California. And it appears that he got rid of his local property in Adacao in 2020 AFTER the cases were brought against him.

On January 16, 2020, a Special Power of Attorney was recorded showing Apuron giving Jackie Terlaje Special Power of Attorney to execute the sale of his property (Tract 1535, Lot 5-R3, Mangilao) on his behalf.

On the same day, a Warranty Deed for the Adacao property was executed by Apuron as Grantor and Raymond Benavente and Eleanor Bongato as Grantees. (Apuron sold the property to these two.)

On the same day, Benavente and Bongato recorded a mortgage on the property.

So Apuron, with his cases already in court and liable for millions of dollars, with the help of his attorney, sold his property.

And there is another interesting twist. Less than two months ago, Raymond Benavente quitclaimed his share of the property to Eleanor Bongato. I don't know if it's coincidence, but it is certainly interesting timing given today's news. 

Also very interesting. Throughout this nearly 10 year long ordeal, Apuron's counsel, Jackie Terlaje has been making excuse after excuse for Apuron claiming he's too old and sickly to even sit through a single deposition. 

However, from what we can see in the video he posted, Apuron, too sickly to sit through a deposition, has no problem spending quite a bit of time and energy proclaiming his innocence and mocking his accusers. 

He sure looks healthy to me. 

Bottom line is this though. Apuron ran. He ran. And he ran after only one accusation. That's not what an innocent man does. 

Apuron says he praying for his accusers. No thank you, Tony. You had better spend your time praying for your own lying soul...and your attorney's.