Church Volunteer from the Diocese of Lafayette Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

SNAP Network
July 28, 2020

https://www.snapnetwork.org/church_volunteer_diocese_lafayette_arrested_child_pornography_charges_jul20

A man who volunteered within the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, has been arrested on charges related to child pornography and the sexual abuse of an animal. Catholic officials now must share this information at every location where this volunteer worked and urge anyone who saw or suspected wrongdoing by the man to come forward and make a report to law enforcement.

While the Diocese of Lafayette claims that Isac Calderon-Sierra never had the opportunity to be alone with any youth while he volunteered at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church, we think it is important that parents and parishioners are made aware of this news. It is possible that Calderon-Sierra could have taken advantage of his trusted position to be alone with children without the knowledge of Diocesan leaders. It behooves them to pull out the stops in order to ensure that no one else was hurt.

The charges against Calderon-Sierra are disturbing and we question how a man like Calderon-Sierra was able to slip through the cracks of background checks and interviews and become a volunteer within the Diocese. Catholic officials should immediately do an audit of their policies that allowed this situation to occur and make sure that nothing was overlooked. This audit should be done in concert with local law enforcement in Lafayette to ensure that all policies follow best standards so that children will be protected in the future.

CONTACT: Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)