Ex-priest Indicted on Charges He Sexually Assaulted Teen

Clay Center Dispatch
May 26, 2016

http://www.ccenterdispatch.com/news/state/article_bcd26233-48bf-5241-9cf9-d1dfe4d00c06.html

A former New Jersey priest who fled to Ecuador more than a decade ago after a teen boy accused him of sexual assault has been indicted.

Union County prosecutors say a grand jury indicted 52-year-old Manuel Espinoza on sexual assault and criminal sexual contact charges.

The boy told another priest and a nun in 2003 that Espinoza sexually assaulted him in the rectory of St. Mary's Church in Plainfield.

A church review board later deemed the allegation was credible.

NJ.com says Espinoza previously admitted to sexually assaulting the teen, calling it a mistake and saying the boy enticed him.

The Associated Press typically doesn't name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

Espinoza's whereabouts are unknown.