Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara Rivera, have been sued for allegedly covering up the sexual abuse of a child affiliated with their Christian church.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six Wednesday, the plaintiffs — known as “Jane A Doe” and “Mother A Doe” — filed their civil lawsuit last week in the Supreme Court of Westchester County in New York.
After retiring from the MLB, Mariano, 55, became the lead pastor of the Refuge of Hope Church in New Rochelle, where Clara is said to be in charge of the day-to-day operations.
According to the complaint, Clara allegedly convinced Mother Doe to allow her daughter to travel to Gainesville, Fla., to participate in a summer 2018 internship with the Ignite Life Center, which was supported by Refuge of Hope.
Doe alleges in the filing that while there, an older minor girl, whom she identifies as “MG,” sexually abused her “repeatedly” in the dorm and shower “by fondling and penetrating [her] breasts, buttocks and genitals against [her] will.”
Doe called her mom and told her what had allegedly happened, which prompted Mother Doe to inform Clara, per the suit.
The Riveras then allegedly traveled to see Doe at the summer camp and “learned or should have learned information that [she] was being sexually abused by MG,” the complaint states.
The filing continues, “Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane A Doe, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimated [her] to remain silent about her abuse by MG to avoid causing trouble for [Refuge of Hope] and the Ignite Life Summer Internship.”
After the internship ended, Doe and MG — who was also a member of Refuge of Hope — returned to New York and continued their worship, according to the suit.
Per the complaint, the Riveras then allegedly hosted a barbecue at their former home in Rye “only for the minor children who attended” the summer camp, as “parents, including but not limited to Mother A Doe, were not invited.”
“During the barbecue, MG once again sexually abused the minor Jane A Doe,” the filing states, going on to allege that the Riveras “should have known that MG had a propensity to sexually abuse Jane A Doe prior to the barbecue, yet they took no action to protect Jane A Doe from her.”
Doe goes on to allege in the suit that she was sexually abused in 2021 by an adult male youth leader who was also the son of a Refuge of Hope associate pastor.
She claims in the complaint that the Riveras acted negligently by failing to adequately supervise the church’s events and that they “falsely promoted their activities and premises as being safe, moral and otherwise free of a risk of harm when [they] knew or should have known otherwise.”
Reps for the Riveras and the Refuge of Hope Church in New Rochelle did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 800-4224453 or text BEGIN to that number.
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