Legionaires Church named in “extortion” lawsuit
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The controversial Legion of Christ has been named as one of the high profile defendants in a lawsuit being filed Thursday morning in Harris County State District Court.
The lawsuit is focused on the operators of a popular Legionnaire’s Catholic School in Spring.,called Northwoods. The suit alleges a Catholic priest at the school attempted to extort a $94,000 payment to complete a land deal for school property. Defendants in the lawsuit are Northwoods Educational Foundation, Inc., The Legion of Christ and Father Daniel Massick.
Pinard Development founder Robert Pinard even accuses the former President of Northwood’s Catholic School of threatening his daughter over the land deal. She was a young student at the school.
The lawsuit alleges officials of Northwood Catholic School approached Robert Pinard about purchasing 21 acres of land surrounding the school amidst financial difficulties. Pinard worked on improving the real estate for months, but alleges that in March of 2015 Father Daniel Massick added a sudden new condition to sign the legal papers, a $94,000 “donation.” The payment demand was captured in a text message.
“This land deal and this extortion attempt was known to the head of the Legionaires Church” says Attorney Cris Feldman of the Law Firm of Feldman and Feldman. “The fact that a member of the clergy would engage in this kind of conduct is shocking”.
Media Inquiries should be directed to Wayne Dolcefino of Dolcefino Consulting at 713-389-0810
UPDATE
Galveston Diocese responds to Catholic school lawsuit
