Anaheim Molester Files Suit Against Family of His Victim : Law: He seeks $1.7 million from relatives and temple officials, saying they exaggerated the severity of his offense.

SANTA ANA —  An Anaheim man who admitted he molested a 17-year-old youth inside a synagogue is suing the victim’s family and temple officials for $1.7 million, alleging that they exaggerated the severity of his offense.

Robert Taylor, who is representing himself in his slander and defamation lawsuit, pleaded guilty in August, 1989, to one count of molesting the boy and served a six-month jail sentence.

As a result of his conviction, Taylor was expelled from the temple.

In the civil trial, which started Monday, Taylor alleged that the victim’s family falsely accused him of abusing the boy over a 10-year period and sodomizing him. Taylor told the jury that he molested the boy about a dozen times over the course of a year. He said he was never convicted of sodomy.

“It’s an argument over semantics,” said Lynne Browning, the attorney representing the defendants, during a break in the proceedings Tuesday. “We don’t believe there is any merit to the suit.”

Browning said that the family’s accusations were made at a meeting before the temple’s board of directors and were protected under state law.

Taylor, who was once a member of the board of directors at Temple Beth Emet, claims that his reputation within the congregation was ruined and that he and his family suffered “mental anguish” over his ex-communication from the Jewish community of Orange County, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, Barry Klatzker, president of the temple, testified that the board of directors voted to expel Taylor from the temple at a November, 1989, meeting, after Taylor had admitted his guilt.

“There was a lot of tension in the air,” Klatzker said about the meeting. “A number of board members were highly emotional about the whole situation.”

Klatzker said that Taylor would have been let back into the temple if he fulfilled several acts of contrition outlined by the temple’s rabbi. He further stated that the family’s comments about Taylor were not made maliciously.

At the end of Tuesday’s proceeding, Browning told reporters that the amount of damages Taylor is seeking is roughly equal to the amount he owes after losing a civil suit filed against him by the victim’s family.