Catholic school teacher accused of abusing student in the '90s
Pacific Daily News, Guam/December 14, 2017
By Haidee V Eugenio
A Catholic school teacher has been accused of repeatedly raping and sexually molesting a student from 1994 to 1996, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday in local court.
Michael J. Unpingco, a teacher at San Vicente Catholic School in Barrigada, allegedly sexually abused and molested a plaintiff identified in court documents only as S.L.H. to protect his privacy.
The student asked the math teacher to stop abusing him, but Unpingco would allegedly make S.L.H. feel guilty by saying he should permit the abuses because of the personal favors he did for him, the lawsuit says.
On other occasions, S.L.H. pushed the teacher off of him because of the pain and the teacher would cry in an effort to make the student feel guilty, the complaint says.
S.L.H., represented by attorney Michael J. Berman, said in his lawsuit that he was about 12 to 14 years old when the teacher molested and abused him. He was in the 6th to 8th grade at the time, the lawsuit says.
Unpingco began his grooming campaign by taking S.L.H. to restaurants and special math tutoring, the complaint states.
"Then later Unpingco sexually molested S.L.H. on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis. This sexual abuse included both oral sex and anal intercourse," the lawsuit says.
Unpingco was S.L.H.'s math class teacher, and his homeroom teacher, the complaint states.
"S.L.H. and his family looked up to Unpingco as a trusted mentor and friend based principally on his elected status in the community and school, and as a well-liked and talented math instructor who had been teaching at San Vicente for several years," the lawsuit says.
The abuses stopped when S.L.H. graduated from San Vicente School and began attending Father Duenas High School.
Now 36, S.L.H. sued the Archdiocese of Agana, San Vicente Catholic School, Unpingco and others for a minimum of $10 million in damages.
S.L.H. is the 148th person to file a lawsuit in local or federal court against the Catholic Church, its priests, clergy and others associated with the Catholic Church, for childhood sexual abuses, rapes and/or molestation.
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