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Yankees Legend Mariano Rivera, His Wife, and Their Church Accused of Sexual Abuse Coverup in Recent Lawsuit

By Liz Lykins
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New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara Rivera, senior pastor of Refuge of Hope in New Rochelle, New York. (TRR Graphic / Video screengrab)

New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara Rivera, have been accused of failing to protect a young girl from alleged sexual abuse at a Christian summer camp connected to the Riveras’ church.

A recent lawsuit claims that both the couple and their church, which Clara Rivera founded in 2009, engaged in “negligent supervision” regarding the abuse.

In 2018, Clara Rivera, senior pastor at Refuge of Hope in New Rochelle, New York, encouraged the victim to attend a summer camp run by the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, the suit stated. Clara and Mariano Rivera later flew to the camp to investigate worries from the girl’s mother about her daughter’s safety.

When the couple met with the girl, they “isolated and intimidated” her into remaining “silent about her negative experiences,” including the abuse, according to the lawsuit.

The Riveras deny any wrongdoing, according to a Jan. 23 statement their lawyer made to the New York Post.

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Refuge of Hope in New Rochelle, New York. (Photo via social media)

“Mariano and Clara Rivera do not tolerate child abuse of any kind and allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false,” attorney Joseph A. Ruta said on behalf of the Riveras.

Ruta said the lawsuit is full of “is full of inaccurate and misleading” statements that will not hold up in court.

Ruta said the couple first heard of these allegations in 2022, nearly four years after the alleged incident. A New York attorney sent them a letter requesting a financial settlement. A year later, a different attorney in Florida sent the Riveras a second similar letter.

The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to Refuge of Hope for additional comment but did not hear back prior to publication.

Riveras’ remained silent to avoid a ‘potential scandal’

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Westchester County, New York, against Refuge of Hope and the Riveras’ former estate.

The victim, “Jane Doe,” claims she was repeatedly abused while attending Ignite Life Center’s summer camp internship in 2018. Doe was born in 2007, which would have made her 10 or 11 years old at that time.

Ignite Life Center and Refuge of Hope are “affiliated” churches, and both belong to the Assemblies of God denomination, according to the lawsuit.

TRR reached out to Ignite Life Center for comment regarding Doe’s suit but did not hear back prior to publication. Ignite Life Center recently settled lawsuits brought by three people who said they were abused as teenagers by a volunteer at the church.

Clara Rivera encouraged Doe to go to Ignite’s summer camp and assured Doe’s mother it would be safe, according to the lawsuit. Additionally, Refuge of Hope paid for any of Doe’s expenses involving the camp to “ensure she could attend the summer program.”

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In 2019, Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, receive prayer at Refuge of Hope in New Rochelle, New York. (Photo: Facebook)

When Doe arrived, she was housed with “a much older camper who also attended Refuge of Hope,” identified in the suit as “MG.”

MG allegedly “repeatedly sexually abused” Doe in both the camp’s dormitory and shower, the lawsuit said.

According to a 2022 police report obtained by the AP News, Doe described 15 instances of inappropriate touching over a two-week period.

While the girl did not report the abuse, her mother was concerned about her safety after the two spoke on the phone. The mother reached out to Clara, who said she would investigate these concerns, according to the suit.

Clara and her husband then traveled to Florida to see Doe. During that trip, the couple “received information that should have given them concern,” the lawsuit stated. Instead, they chose to remain silent to “avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in (Refuge’s) programs.”

Additionally, the couple allegedly each “separately isolated and intimidated Doe to remain silent about her abuse,” the suit continues.

Doe then returned to New York and continued to actively participate in Refuge of Hope. Later that summer, during a church barbecue for children at the Riveras’ home, Doe was again abused by MG, according to the lawsuit.

The Riveras’ had a “superior knowledge of the risk of harm” that Doe faced at the barbecue and failed to sufficiently care for her, the suit states.

rivera
(Screengrab)

Doe abused again in 2021 and 2022

Doe’s suit also claims that she was abused by a male youth leader at Refuge of Hope in 2021 and 2022. Ruben Tavarez, Jr., who is the adult son of an associate pastor at the church, groomed and abused Doe multiple times, the suit says.

Doe’s mother learned of abuse after discovering months of explicit electronic communications between the two, according to the lawsuit.

Refuge church leaders “should have known” that Tavarez had a tendency to “engage in sexual misconduct with children he encountered,” the suit states.

However, the leaders “took no action to protect Doe from Tavarez,” the suit continues.

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On Sept. 16, 2019, Mariano Rivera (center left) receives the Presidential Medial of Freedom at the White House. He is pictured with Vice President Mike Pence (center) as well as Church of God of Prophecy Bishop Mario Gandia and his wife Naomi, at right. (Photo: Facebook / White House)

Overall, the Riveras’ “falsely promoted their activities and premises as being safe, moral, and otherwise free of a risk of harm when it knew or should have known otherwise.”

Doe is seeking compensatory and punitive damage and a jury trial.

Mariano Rivera previously played as a relief pitcher for the New York Yankees from 1995-2013, according to Baseball Reference. Rivera spent his entire MLB career with the Yankees, where he won five World Series Championships with the team. In 1999, he was named World Series MVP.

Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.

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3 Responses

  1. My first hand experience of hearing of Colvill, Washington Nazarene Church was hearing the new pastor talk about the coming 17 week study of the gender of God. Your denomination has gone crazy-stupid. A sign of the Biden times, I suppose.

  2. Sorry, but I’m not buying this story. If your daughter claims she was abused, you go to the police. You don’t hire a lawyer and go after the guy with deep pockets four years later.

    1. MJ, I am buying it. 15 years ago we were approached by an Assemblies of God pastor to pay his overdue legal fees. He claimed he had been falsely accused of covering up the sexual abuse of a young teenage girl in his previous church. He told us the girl had lied. We checked with the New Hampshire District Attorney’s office who handled the case. It was our pastor who had lied. The man who abused the child, a police officer and church member (who had taken the girl into his home as a caregiver) was convicted of sexual abuse and sentenced to 2 years in prison. The first person the child tried to get help from was the pastor who alerted and protected the accused and did nothing to help the child. Too many pastors and ministry workers throw abuse victims under the bus, preferring to protect their flawed and predatory institutions. If parents bring a lawsuit to expose abuse within a church setting I see it as a good thing. Abusers need to be exposed and punished, children need to be protected and institutions involved in coverups should pay punitive fines.

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Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive a copy of “Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities’ by Dr. Andrew Bauman.