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Civil suit moving forward against former Coastal Bend Catholic priest convicted of rape

Dougherty was tried for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Bee County in 2011 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Attorneys stood before Judge Deeanne Galvan in the civil suit styled Jane Doe 108 v. Diocese of Corpus Christi and a number of other Catholic defendants including former Coastal Bend priest Stephen Dougherty.

He was convicted of raping the young girl in Bee County back in 2011 when she was just 13 years old and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. 

"He was molesting children as far back as 1981 and raped this girl in 2011 that's a 30 year period and there's possibly other victims," Jane Doe's attorney Bryan Harris said in a 2018 interview.

Dougherty is now 67 years old and is sitting in the Michael Unit east of Waco. He's eligible for parole in 2048. 

Robert Sigler is one of the attorney's for the victim. He told 3NEWS that all of the defendants have settled the civil lawsuit with the exception of Dougherty. 

3NEWS asked why he was being sued when he'll be in prison for at least the next 24 years. 

"We are just trying to get a verdict against him because he's a very wealthy man, even though he is in prison," Sigler said. "Under civil law, we are entitled to recover monetary damages from him. That's what we're trying to do." 

When asked how Sigler thought he and was doing so far in recovering the monetary damages he responded, "Good."

The civil suit is continuing on as Dougherty is set to testify in this case from prison on Thursday.  

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