Mariano Rivera and Wife Covered Up Sex Abuse of Child, Lawsuit Claims

Mariano Rivera, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees, has been accused in a lawsuit of concealing repeated sexual assaults of a minor.

Mr. Rivera, a Yankees closer for 17 seasons, and his wife, Clara, “isolated and intimidated” a young girl into staying silent about her abuse to avoid causing trouble for a New Rochelle, N.Y., church, Refuge of Hope, which they helped found, the lawsuit said.

A lawsuit against the church was filed in Westchester by the girl and her mother, who are not identified in court records in order to protect their privacy.

According to a civil complaint filed on Wednesday that details the accusations, the girl was an active member of Refuge of Hope, part of the broader Assemblies of God religion and organization.

Adam Horowitz, the lawyer for the girl and her mother, said that the Riveras had failed to keep a child safe.

It was not immediately clear who was representing the Riveras and their church.

In 2018, Ms. Rivera, a pastor at the church, told the mother that the girl should participate in a summer internship run through Ignite Life Center, another Assemblies of God church, the complaint said.

The program, which Refuge of Hope paid for the girl to attend, required her to stay in a dorm with other children without parental supervision, the complaint alleges. According to court documents, the girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by an older female camper who touched her genitals in the dorm and shower.

The girl, who was about 11 years old at the time, shared information that made the mother concerned for her safety at the camp, the complaint said. The mother reported her concerns to Ms. Rivera, who said that she would investigate and respond accordingly, the lawsuit said.

Ms. Rivera and her husband traveled to the Florida camp and received information that suggested the girl was being sexually abused, the complaint said. They failed to report the abuse allegation and, instead, urged the girl to remain quiet to “avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs,” the complaint said of Refuge of Hope.

They further told the girl’s mother that she was “safe and in no danger,” the complaint added. The girl returned home and resumed attending church services.

A lawyer for the church’s Florida affiliate, Ignite Life Center, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The girl was sexually assaulted again by the same person later that summer while at a barbecue at the Riveras’ home in Rye, N.Y., the complaint said.

About three years later, in 2021, the girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a church employee who worked at Refuge of Hope as a youth leader, the complaint claimed. It said he had also forced the girl to engage in explicit communications with him for months.

Neither the church nor its employees did anything to report the abuse or to properly investigate it, the complaint further charged.

Mr. Horowitz said that his client had reported the assaults to the authorities in Florida, but that no arrests were made in her case. It is not clear whether the girl and her mother ever reported the allegation of assault by the youth leader to the authorities.

In December, affiliates of the Assemblies of God in Florida settled three lawsuits that alleged similar sexual assaults of minors. Another former staff member of Ignite Life Center entered into a plea agreement in connection with sexual abuse.