A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit brought by a Lakeland woman who was stalked and sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest working for the Diocese of Orlando, the Miami-based firm of Mermelstein & Horowitz, P.A. said in a statement today. The Orlando Diocese has agreed to pay the 55-year-old woman, known only as Jane Joe in court documents, an undisclosed amount.
Jane Joe alleged she was repeatedly stalked, harassed, and even sexually assaulted by Fr. Wladyslaw Gorak, between 2004 and 2005, while Gorak worked as a priest in Lakeland, Florida.
Gorak, ordained in Poland, began working as a priest in Newark in 1998. Documents obtained by the Plaintiff reveals that other priests and church employees in Newark raised concerns about Gorak, including his sexually inappropriate behaviors with women prior to his transfer to Orlando in 2004. In 1998, the Archbishop of Newark, Theodore McCarrick, was informed of the complaints about Gorak, according to the evidence. In 2001, two different New Jersey police departments investigated Gorak for stalking a female parishioner.
In Lakeland, despite Jane Doe’s multiple complaints to her parish pastor, Gorak continued to terrorize her, following her everywhere, breaking into her home, and ultimately sexually assaulting her. Gorak was convicted of stalking Jane Doe in 2005. The same year, he changed his name to Walter Fisher.
Gorak/Fisher remains a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark. According to the Florida Dept. of Corrections, he continues to live in the Lakeland area.
Documents from Gorak/Fisher’s file, as well as the deposition transcripts of Newark Archbishop John Myers and Paterson (NJ) Bishop Arthur Serratelli, are available at http://jessicaarbour.blogspot.com/.
