BECAUSE JOHN'S CLAIMS WERE TRUE

By Tim Rohr

Readers of this blog will be seeing a lot of "old stuff," as I do the research for my upcoming book:

ORCHESTRATED

How a blog and the laity took down an archbishop and exposed the largest clergy sex abuse scandal, per capita, in the whole Catholic world. 

At least that's the working title for now.

A critical chapter in the book is devoted to John Toves, the first person to accuse Apuron of sexual abuse, not of himself, but of a relative, a close relative.

Why John chose to make his accusation in 2014 is a big part of the story, but you'll have to wait for the book to find out. Meanwhile, though, Toves never really had to prove his accusation. Apuron functionally admitted his guilt by doing the stupidest things in response. 

One of the "stupidest things" was hiring a law firm in California to threaten Toves:

The undersigned has been retained to represent the interests of Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Guam, particularly with respect to the defamatory conduct in which you have recently engaged. This letter serves as a demand to you to immediately cease and desist from making any further defamatory comments or publications against Archbishop Apuron's reputation and character. Your conduct has caused and continues to cause grave harm not only to Archbishop Apuron and the church in Guam but also to the universal Church. 

Your comments and published statements that Archbishop Apuron has engaged in unlawful conduct are patently false, and you have made these comments and published these statements with full knowledge of their falsity. Under California law, it is unlawful to engage in defamation of another's character and reputation, and your defamatory conduct subjects you to significant liability. 

Accordingly, we demand that you immediately cease and desist your unlawful defamation of Archbishop Apuron. If you do not comply with this demand, Archbishop Apuron will have to pursue all available legal remedies, including seeking monetary damages for harm to his reputation and character, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and an order that you pay court costs and attorney's fees. Your liability and exposure under such legal action will be considerable. 

Sincerely, 

Michelle R Neal 

LINK to the PDF

The letterhead for Michelle R Neal's law firm read: "Employment Law Council," and her law firm was located in Sacramento, California. 

We have to wonder if Michelle R. Neal isn't a Neocat. What other reason would Apuron have to retain her to go after John? According to Neal's online bio, she is, in fact, an attorney specializing in employment law in California. 

Michelle R Neal, Lawyer in SACRAMENTO, California | Justia Lawyer Directory

Michelle R Neal is a legal professional specializing in employment law. She has been associated with Employment Law Counsel from 2013 to 2022 and is currently employed by Employment Law Counsel, LLP. Her practice includes areas such as wage and hour issues, independent contractor status, federal and state family leave laws, sexual and other prohibited harassment, personnel policies, preventative employment practices, and wage audits and claims. 

Not only did Neal have no qualifications to threaten John regarding his claims about Apuron, but she also lacked jurisdiction in Guam. Apuron had his own attorney, the late Edward Terlaje. Why didn't Apuron use Terlaje to threaten John? I know why. Terlaje knew John's claims were true. 

By the way, John did not "cease and desist."