Database shows Kern County priests with past sexual misconduct charges

By Emma Goss
KBAK/KBFX/Eyewitness News
March 04, 2019

https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/database-shows-give-kern-county-priests-with-past-sexual-misconduct-charges

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, which includes 87 parishes spanning across the Central Valley, has hired former FBI Executive Assistant Director Kathleen McChesney to review and identify past offenses of sexual misconduct.

Fr. Miguel Flores's case from 2002 being reopened by the diocese is entirely independent of the review being conducted, but he is one of 11 priests in the Diocese of Fresno who have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct, according to Bishop Accountability, an online database.

Bishop Armando Ochoa, D.D., said at a news conference last month that "although it is labor intensive, it is essential that the current administration is fully aware of any record of sexual abuse, no matter how much time has passed."

Among the 11 publicly accused priests identified in the online database, five have ties to Kern County.

In 2016 Robert Gamel was sentenced to four years probation and 11 months in jail after being charged with possession of child pornography. He was a priest assigned to several churches throughout Kern County.

A civil suit filed in 2010 alleges a priest abused and stalked a youth while at Saint Francis Church in Bakersfield in the early 1990's.

A man came forward in 2007 alleging abuse by a bishop in Bakersfield in the 1960's when he was just 12 years old.

In 2003 a law suit alleges abuse at Saint Mary's Church in Buttonwillow in the early 1960's.