Bail Reduced to $700k for Calif. Priest

Mercury News
January 6, 2012

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19687734

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Bail has been reduced to $700,000 for a Northern California priest charged with molesting a 14-year-old girl. The Rev. Uriel Ojeda, who has been a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy parish in Redding, appeared in a Sacramento courtroom on Thursday for what turned out to be a contentious hearing to reduce the $5 million bail amount.

The Sacramento Bee ( http://bit.ly/y1DwJQ) says the prosecutor told the judge that Ojeda confessed to a Catholic Diocese investigator after being told of the girl's allegations.

But defense lawyer Jesse Ortiz says the allegations are untrue and the 32-year-old priest is being punished by diocesan officials who dislike him.

When the judge asked if the diocese fabricated the allegations, Ortiz said "yes."

Ojeda hasn't entered a plea to seven child molestation counts.