#USA #NY – On April 30th, 2026, Attorney Jim Monroe announced eight additional Child Victims Act lawsuits (separate from a pending case), with 14 other alleged victims identified against George Boxelaar, a religious priest that served in New York. Claims span the late 1960s–1985 and total over 4,500 alleged incidents. One case heads to trial in Orange County Civil Court. Court documents again reference the 1985 deal. A related trial has been paused for 60 days due to a broader Archdiocese settlement involving multiple cases that could total up to $800 million dollars.
George Boxelaar is a Carmelite priest who served at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Middletown, Orange County, New York, and associated mission parishes since 1956. Lawsuits allege that Boxelaar sexually abused dozens of boys, primarily pre-adolescent altar boys and students, hundreds to thousands of times across these parishes. Abuse reportedly included fondling and other acts, sometimes framed by the priest as “normal” or in line with “Dutch customs.”
The earliest complaint against the religious priest was from 1973 in which a 7-year-old altar boy told his father that Boxelaar abused him by having his hand forced down Boxelaar’s pants during confession. Other parents reported similar incidents with their sons. The families did not press criminal charges, reportedly to avoid having the boys testify, but the Carmelite Order received this complaint.
In the 1980s, the Carmelite Order received additional complaints, and in 1985, New York State Police charged Boxelaar. A church letter referenced in court documents stated the charges were dropped in exchange for his retirement and return to Holland. The agreement was accepted, and he left the U.S. and the active priesthood. In 1990, Boxelaar died at the age of 81.
In 2002, local news reports publicized allegations made by Leonard Filipowski that Boxelaar had sexually abused him as a minor. At least 25 additional men come forward claiming abuse as boys. The Carmelite Order at this time publicly acknowledged receiving the complaint in the 1970s and five in the 1980s.
In 2019 Filipowski, who was abused in the early 1970s at the age of 7, publicly filed a lawsuit under the Child Victims Act, and other individuals followed. In July 2020, a major suit filed on behalf of eight men claimed the churches, Carmelite Order, and Archdiocese of New York knew or should have known about the abuse by 1973. The additional eight lawsuits and fourteen victims has expanded the scope of abuse and number of incidents.
The church entities named (the Archdiocese of New York, Carmelite Fathers, and specific parishes) have generally not commented publicly on the latest suits. The allegations remain civil claims and have not been adjudicated as proven in criminal court, but they build on decades of complaints and prior acknowledgments by the Order and have become a part of a serious trend of child sex abuse by clergy in the last century.
Image: George Boxelaar seen with an unknown child at an unknown date and time.
