Yankee Legend Mariano Rivera, Wife, Concealed Child Sex Abuse: Lawsuit

WESTCHESTER, N.Y. — A lawsuit filed Jan. 16 claims longtime NY Yankee Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, covered up the sexual abuse of a young girl at a summer camp affiliated with their church and at a barbecue at their Rye home.

The girl, now age 17, is identified only as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit, which is pending in the State Supreme Court for the County of Westchester.

Florida-based attorney Adam Horowitz, who is representing Jane Doe and her mother, said in a statement, “Our lawsuit alleges that Mariano and Clara Rivera had a duty to protect our client and missed the opportunity to save her from the harms of child sexual abuse.”

“I commend our young client for her bravery and commitment to truth,” he added. “We thank her for sounding the alarm on a potentially dangerous environment for kids.”

Attorney Joseph A. Ruta, who is representing the Riveras, could not be reached for comment.

Ruta told the Associated Press that any claims his clients knew about any abuse or failed to act on reports of abuse are “completely false.”

Jane Doe and her mother are suing Refugio de Esperanza Inc., a nonprofit also known as Refuge of Hope. It owns and operates the Refuge of Hope Church in New Rochelle. The Riveras originally launched the church from their home in 2009, and Clara Rivera serves as a senior pastor, according to the church’s website. Also named in the lawsuit is 1 Brook View Rye, LLC, which owns property at 1 Brook View Lane, in Rye, New York.

According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe attended the church’s services and events for years.

Around 2018, Clara Rivera recommended to Jane Doe’s mother that Jane attend a summer internship at an affiliated church, Ignite Life Center, in Florida. Doe attended in the summer of 2018, according to the lawsuit, with Refugio paying for her expenses.

While there, Doe lived in a dormitory with other children. The lawsuit claims another camper, identified only as “MG,” repeatedly sexually abused Jane Doe in the dormitory and shower “by fondling and penetrating” her against her will. MG was a minor at the time, documents show.

After talking to her daughter via a phone call, Jane Doe’s mother became concerned about her daughter’s safety and called Clara Rivera, who told the mother she would investigate. Clara and Mariano Rivera traveled from New York to Florida to see Jane Doe, according to the lawsuit.

It alleges the couple, “learned or should have learned” about the sexual abuse.

The lawsuit claims the Riveras didn’t take action to end the abuse, and instead each separately “isolated and intimidated” Jane Doe to “remain silent about her abuse by MG to avoid causing trouble for Refugio and the Ignite Life Summer Internship.” The couple assured Jane Doe’s mother of her daughter’s safety, the lawsuit claims.

After summer camp ended, both Jane Doe and MG returned to New York and resumed worship at Refugio. The lawsuit claims the defendants in the summer of 2018 organized a barbecue for children at the Riveras’ home at 1 Brook View Lane, in Rye. Parents were not invited to the barbecue, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims Jane Doe and MG were invited, but were left unsupervised, and that MG sexually abused Jane Doe at the barbecue. The litigation asserts the defendants knew or should have known that MG posed a risk, but took no action to protect Jane Doe.

The litigation claims the defendants had a modus operandi to “handle allegations of sexual abuse internally to avoid scrutiny, public scandal, and potential financial losses from allegations of child sexual abuse becoming public information.”

The lawsuit further claims Jane Doe was sexually abused by an adult male youth leader at Refugio in 2021 and 2022.

Jane Doe and her mother are seeking a jury trial.

Mariano Rivera, who was a pitcher for the Yankees, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.