Church Employee in Houston Arrested for Grooming and Abusing Young Teen

SNAP Network
September 2, 2002

https://www.snapnetwork.org/church_employee_houston_arrested_grooming_abusing_young_teen_sep20

An employee at a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Houston has been arrested on child sexual assault charges. We now call on Catholic officials in Houston to do outreach to parents and parishioners and to update their list of the credibly accused to include this staffer and all other lay employees in Houston that have hurt children or vulnerable adults.

Ronald See, an IT staffer at St. Anthony Padua Catholic Church and School in The Woodlands Township, TX, has been arrested for grooming and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who was a family friend. While See did not find the victim through his position at St. Anthony Padua, it is possible that he could have had access to other children while working in the school and parish. It is critical that Cardinal Daniel DiNardo use every resource at his disposal to ensure parents and parishioners at St. Anthony’s are made aware of the story and that anyone who may have seen or suspected crimes by See or any other church employees are encouraged to come forward to law enforcement.

This story demonstrates that it is not just clergy, brothers, and nuns who abuse boys and girls, but also all manner of lay employees. If Catholic officials truly want to demonstrate a commitment to protecting children and the vulnerable, they should include every staff member who has abused minors on their “credibly accused” list, not just priests and deacons. We call on Archdiocesan officials to update their list immediately with information about See and any other lay employee who has hurt children or adults while working for the Archdiocese of Houston.

“The sexual assault pandemic continues to spread through the Catholic church and Archdiocesan officials continue to demonstrate a great lack of transparency,” said Eduardo Lopez de Casas, leader of SNAP Houston. “There is no mention of this story on the St. Anthony website and they continue to keep their followers in the dark. This must change.”

CONTACT: Eduardo Lopez de Casas, SNAP Houston ( eduarturo_c@yahoo.com, 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)