Bishop Luers Lawsuit Alleges Child Exploitation Cover-Up

The Bishop Luers lawsuit is a civil case filed by nine former female students of Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and their families, accusing the school and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend of covering up a child exploitation scheme in which male classmates created and traded pornographic content labeled with the girls’ names. First filed in January 2025 and now pending in Allen County Superior Court, the case is active, with eight plaintiffs remaining and a hearing scheduled for March 2027.¹

What the Male Students Are Accused of Doing

According to the complaint, at least three male students at Bishop Luers began producing explicit content targeting female classmates as early as 2022. They allegedly searched sites like Pornhub for videos and images of people who resembled specific girls at the school by hair color, body type, and skin tone, then edited the files to display the classmates’ names. The material was sorted into digital folders labeled with individual victims’ names and shared and sold among students at Bishop Luers and other area high schools, including on football teams.²

The victims themselves do not appear in the images; the source videos and photos show other people chosen because they looked like the targeted girls. Plaintiffs have said they do not know whether the people actually shown in the source material were adults or minors.² The lawsuit estimates roughly 38 female students were targeted, most or all of them minors at the time.³ One male student was later convicted in juvenile court for a crime related to the videos, though little about that proceeding is public.⁴

What Administrators Are Accused of Knowing

The heart of the lawsuit is not the conduct itself but the school’s alleged response. The complaint states that Bishop Luers faculty and Diocese officials became aware of the pornographic content by February 2023. Under Indiana law, school personnel are mandatory reporters, but administrators allegedly did not contact law enforcement or notify the victims’ parents.²

The female students did not learn about the material until September 2023, about seven months later. When families tried to raise the issue, Dean of Students and Athletic Director Kevin Mann allegedly told parents he already knew about the content but did not believe a crime had been committed and therefore saw no duty to contact authorities.² In a meeting with the girls, then-Principal Scott Kreiger reportedly told them administrators had “a lot of things on our plates right now” and that “guys will do guy things.”⁴

In one incident described in the complaint, a female student reported being confronted in class by a male classmate showing her a video bearing her name; the teacher’s response was to reseat the boy. Male students identified as involved were also allowed to keep playing on school sports teams after administrators learned of the conduct.⁴ Police were not contacted until late September 2023, after the victims’ families delivered an ultimatum demanding the school report it.³

Who Is Suing and What They Are Claiming

The case was originally filed on January 21, 2025, in Marion County Court by four Jane Doe plaintiffs and their parents, represented by Indianapolis firm CohenMalad, LLP. On March 7, 2025, plaintiffs’ counsel voluntarily dismissed the Marion County case and refiled in Allen County, where the school is located, expanding the plaintiff group and dropping the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis as a defendant. The Archdiocese had argued it is a separate legal entity from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and had no role in or knowledge of the alleged events.⁵ Two more plaintiffs joined in May 2025, bringing the total to nine.⁶

The current defendants are the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Bishop Luers High School, Diocesan Schools Superintendent David Maugel, Dean of Students and Athletic Director Kevin Mann, former Principal Scott Kreiger, and former Principal James Huth, who now serves as the school’s Director of Development.⁵

The complaint asserts gross negligence, fraudulent concealment, breach of fiduciary duty, and civil liability for failure to report under Indiana Code 31-33-5-1, which requires school personnel to report suspected child abuse or exploitation. Plaintiffs allege a “culture of silence” and a deliberate effort to conceal the exploitation to protect the school’s reputation.²

Kreiger resigned on February 4, 2025, less than two weeks after the initial filing. The Diocese said his departure was “not related to the lawsuit” and called it a personnel matter. In a letter to families shortly after the suit was filed, Kreiger had disputed the allegations, calling them “not accurate representations of the truth or of Bishop Luers High School to this situation.”⁷

How the School and Diocese Are Responding

Defense attorneys have formally denied the cover-up allegations. They acknowledge the diocese owed students “a duty of reasonable care to prevent foreseeable harm,” but deny that the four named administrators knew about the scheme in February 2023 and failed to act. They also acknowledge that the school did not confiscate devices from the male students involved, but say the school’s response was neither inadequate nor unlawful.⁸

In May 2025, the defense moved to dismiss two counts. They argued a negligent hiring, training, and supervision count was duplicative of the broader negligence claims, and that Indiana’s mandatory reporting statute does not create a private right to sue for damages, citing a precedent involving Northwest Allen County Schools.⁹ Allen County Superior Court Judge Andrew Williams granted the motion in August 2025, dismissing both counts. The remaining claims are moving forward.⁸

The Fight Over Naming the Plaintiffs

In August 2025, defense attorneys asked the court to require the nine women, identified as Jane Does, to proceed under their legal names. They pointed to Indiana’s constitutional preference for open courts and state law disfavoring pseudonyms.¹⁰ Plaintiffs’ counsel countered that disclosure would expose the women to harassment, warning that peers and strangers could seek out the explicit videos and use them “to intimidate, threaten, tease or otherwise harm them.” A psychologist who interviewed five of the plaintiffs testified that revealing their identities would cause “significant harm,” including reactivated trauma, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms.¹¹

After a November 14, 2025 hearing, Judge Williams preliminarily denied the motion on December 11, 2025. He found the psychologist’s testimony persuasive, called revealing the plaintiffs’ identities “irreversible,” and described the defense motion as “premature” given limited discovery. He left open the possibility of revisiting the question after mediation.¹⁰

The Gag Order

After that ruling, defense attorneys filed an Emergency Protective Order asking the court to limit public discussion of the case. Judge Williams approved it in early 2026. The order bars all parties, their attorneys, and anyone assisting them from commenting to the media or otherwise publicly discussing the case, including on social media, until it concludes.¹ Limited exceptions allow the judge to authorize a neutral case summary and let parties respond publicly to prejudicial statements aimed at them, provided those statements did not come from the opposing side.¹²

Where the Case Stands Now

In June 2026, one of the nine plaintiffs, Jane Doe VII, filed to dismiss her claim with prejudice, permanently barring her from refiling against the defendants. Court documents state that each side is to bear its own costs; no settlement details have been made public.¹³

Eight plaintiffs’ claims remain active. Both sides have requested a jury trial, and a hearing is scheduled for March 2027.¹

1
21Alive News. Gag Order Approved in Lawsuit Accusing Bishop Luers High School of Child Exploitation Cover-Up
2
The Indiana Lawyer. Parents Allege Daughters Were Victims of Fake Porn and Fort Wayne Catholic School Failed to Take Action Against Creators
3
CohenMalad, LLP. Bishop Luers Lawsuit
4
21Alive News. Bishop Luers Principal Allegedly Told Girls Targeted in Child Exploitation Scheme ‘Guys Will Do Guy Things’
5
CohenMalad, LLP. Bishop Luers Lawsuit Update
6
21Alive News. Two More Plaintiffs Join Lawsuit Alleging Bishop Luers Child Exploitation Cover-Up
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WANE. Bishop Luers High School Principal Resigns in Wake of Lawsuit Over Child Porn Scheme
8
21Alive News. Bishop Luers Formally Responds to Lawsuit Alleging Child Exploitation Cover-Up
9
WANE. Bishop Luers Files Response and Motion to Remove Two Counts in Child Exploitation Lawsuit
10
Journal Gazette. Judge Preliminarily Denies Request to Name Women Suing Bishop Luers High School
11
21Alive News. Judge Preliminarily Denies Request by Bishop Luers Attorneys to Name Women Suing in Alleged Child Exploitation Cover-Up
12
WANE. Judge Orders Parties Involved to Sign a Protective Order in Bishop Luers Lawsuit
13
WANE. 1 of 9 Former Students Suing Bishop Luers Files to Dismiss, Court Docs