(CNN) West Virginia's attorney general has sued the state's diocese and former bishop, saying they "knowingly employed pedophiles" while failing to alert parents about potential risks at Catholic schools and other activities.

"Parents who pay and entrust the Wheeling-Charleston diocese and its schools to educate and care for their children deserve full transparency," Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.

"Our investigation reveals a serious need for the diocese to enact policy changes that will better protect children, just as this lawsuit demonstrates our resolve to pursue every avenue to effectuate change as no one is above the law."

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Morrisey said he opened an investigation last fall after a grand jury in Pennsylvania found evidence that more than 300 Catholic priests had abused children in that state since the 1950s. Most of the accusations dated to before 2002, when many Catholic dioceses in the United States instituted new child safety protocols.

While more than 13 states are investigating the Catholic Church, Morrisey's is believed to be one of the first to use consumer protection laws to hold Catholic officials accountable.

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