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Arrest Warrant Issued for Priest Who Admitted Sex with Teenage Boy

By Mark Mueller
NJ.com
January 7, 2016

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/arrest_warrant_issued_for_priest_who_admitted_sex.html

Max Rojas Ramirez stands outside the rectory of St. Mary's Church in Plainfield. It was his first visit there since he was 15, when he told others he was raped in the rectory by the Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza. Gallo Espinoza fled the country after the claim was reported to police. (Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

An arrest warrant has been issued for a suspended New Jersey priest who admitted to a reporter in August that he engaged in a sexual encounter with a teenage boy 13 years ago.

Union County's presiding municipal court judge, Joan Robinson Gross, issued the warrant for the Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza Thursday afternoon, one day after the alleged victim in the case filed a sexual assault complaint in Plainfield Municipal Court.

The Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza, seen in social media photos (top), fled the country in 2003 after a 15-year-old boy accused him of rape. At bottom is a copy of the visa he received when he returned to the United States to work as a teacher.

The accuser, Max Rojas Ramirez, contends Gallo Espinoza raped him in the rectory of a Plainfield church just before Easter in 2003, when he was 15. The priest, who was removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Newark after the accusation was made, then fled to his native Ecuador.

It's not known where Gallo Espinoza is living now. In June of last year, NJ Advance Media disclosed he had returned to the United States to work as a teacher in Maryland and Virginia before disappearing in 2014.

Ramirez on Thursday said he was grateful the warrant had been issued and that he hoped Gallo Espinoza could be located.

"I'm happy and thankful that justice might finally be served," said Ramirez, 28 of Elizabeth. "I hope it happens."

The Union County Prosecutor's Office reopened its investigation into the alleged rape after NJ Advance Media's inquiries in June. Two months later, Gallo Espinoza reached out to the news organization in an effort to reach Ramirez.

In a series of email and telephone interviews, the 52-year-old priest admitted a sexual encounter with the teen, saying his thinking was clouded by alcohol and characterizing the incident as a "mistake."

Ramirez, who said he had been frustrated by the pace of the investigation at the prosecutor's office, filed his complaint in municipal court to force the issue.

In issuing the arrest warrant, Judge Gross found probable cause to support the sexual assault charge, a spokeswoman for the Plainfield Municipal Court said.

The prosecutor's office declined to comment.

 

 

 

 

 




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