SPOKANE (AP) -- A man who alleges he was sexually abused while a patient at a Spokane substance abuse center sued a former priest, a hospital and a Louisiana Roman Catholic diocese Wednesday.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents as "CC," alleges he was sexually abused by the Rev. Ronald L. Fontenot, a counselor at the Nancy Reagan Care Unit at Deaconess Hospital in 1985-1986.

Fontenot served a one-year sentence here in 1986 for statutory rape after three boys accused him of sexual molestation. CC is not one of the boys involved in that case, said his attorney, Tim Kosnoff of Seattle.

The negligence and intentional sexual abuse lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages.

Named as defendants are Fontenot; Empire Health Services, which operates Deaconess; and the Diocese of Lafayette, La., where Fontenot was ordained.

Fontenot, whose whereabouts are not known, had been accused of molesting a boy in Louisiana before coming to Spokane, where he briefly lived in a residence on the Gonzaga University campus.

The lawsuit alleges the hospital knowingly hired a sexual predator, who was free to victimize other boys. CC was a patient at the center for about two weeks, Kosnoff said.

Kosnoff said the plaintiff decided to file suit after hearing news accounts of sexual abuse by priests in the Spokane diocese.

Although the alleged abuse occurred nearly 20 years ago, state law makes it possible for victims to sue within three years after realizing they had been abused as a child, he said.

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