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Yankees icon Mariano Rivera and his wife Clara covered up the sexual abuse of a minor girl at the couple’s home and at a Christian summer camp affiliated with the their church, according to a shocking new lawsuit filed in New York.
Once Major League Baseball’s most authoritative closer, garnering the all-time highest Hall of Fame voting percentage – a perfect 100 percent – Rivera, 55, later became the lead pastor at the Refuge of Hope church in New Rochelle, 15 miles north of The Bronx.
But last Thursday, a legal complaint was filed in the Supreme Court of Westchester County accusing the Riveras of being negligent in their supervision and allegedly failing to act upon learning that a young girl from their church was being sexually abused.
A Florida Pentecostal church affiliated with Refuge of Hope and the couple’s one-time New York home are at the center of the alleged scandal.
According to the filing in the civil case, the plaintiff – known as “Jane Doe” – claims she was sexually abused by an older minor girl – anonymised as “MG” during a summer internship in 2018 at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, which was supported by Rivera’s church.
The victim and her family were also members of Refuge of Hope in New York, the suit alleges. A year after the alleged abuse began, Mariano Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Clara Rivera, who is said to be in charge of Refuge of Hope’s day-to-day operations, allegedly convinced the girl’s mother to allow her to attend internship, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit states that the Riveras traveled from New York to Florida to see the victim at the summer camp where they “learned or should have learned information” about the sexual abuse.
The complaint read: “Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane Doe (the victim), the Riveras each separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe to remain silent about her abuse by MG (the suspect) to avoid causing trouble for Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life Summer Internship.”
The girl is said to have returned to New York after the Ignite Life Center Summer Internship ended and resumed church services at Refuge of Hope.
Rivera has a long history of friendship with Ignite Life Center’s head pastor Mark Vega who was a former chaplain with the Yankees during the Panama City native’s playing days.
The abuse allegedly continued at a barbeque hosted at the couple’s former Brook View property in Rye, New York, in August 2018 before it was sold in June 2022 according to the complaint.
The girl was also alleged she was sexually abused by Ruben Tavarez Jr., the adult son of the Refuge of Hope Associate pastor Ruben Tavarez Sr., in August 2021.
The suit argues that the Riveras failed to adequately supervise or act on known risks, leading to these incidents.
Mariano and Clara Rivera “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,” the complaint states.
The complaint also sheds light on a pattern of alleged negligence at Ignite Life Center.
Three individuals have been arrested for child sex crimes, including former volunteer Gabriel Hemenez who was sentenced to five years in prison for two felony counts of molesting a minor in March 2024.
The son of the church’s head pastor Christian Vargas who was also charged with sexual battery of a minor in July 2023 and son of a former associate pastor Noel Cruz who was sentenced to three years probation earlier this month for sexual battery of a minor.
Vargas has entered a not-guilty plea in his case as he continues to await trial.
The Independent has contacted the Riveras, Refuge of Hope and Ignite Life Center for more information.
