Ten-Minute Activist: Brief Email Bishop's Reporting Delay Enables Accused Priest to Flee DA Passalacqua Considers Filing Charges against Bishop Walsh Sheriff's deputies in Sonoma County have reported to DA Stephan Passalacqua that adequate evidence exists to bring criminal charges against Bishop Daniel F. Walsh of Santa Rosa CA and senior managers of the diocese. Walsh and his men apparently violated California law in waiting to report allegations of sexual abuse, and during the delay, Rev. Xavier Ochoa (pictured at left) fled to Mexico. Please review the information summarized below (brief sections on the case, Santa Rosa, runaway priests, and how to help), and if you think that this is an important case, consider writing brief emails to DA Passalacqua and to the newspapers that have covered the story.

The Case

Santa Rosa diocesan managers learned on 4/27/06 that Rev. Xavier Ochoa had admitted molesting a 12-year-old boy earlier that month. Ochoa met with the managers and Bishop Daniel Walsh on Friday 4/28/06, and the priest admitted that he had abused other boys. Walsh removed Ochoa, but a diocesan lawyer faxed notification of the allegation to authorities three days later, on 5/1/06. The authorities opened an investigation and found that in the meantime Ochoa had fled to Mexico, where he is still at large. On 6/22/06, 10 felony charges and 1 misdemeanor charge were filed against the priest for sexually abusing three male minors. The acts included forcible sodomy and forcible oral copulation. State and federal arrest warrants have been issued. For background see:
• Officials Fault Bishop in Abuse Case: Law Requires Prompt Report; New Details of Sonoma Allegations, by Guy Kovner, Press Democrat (6/22/06) [includes chronology and summary of reporting law]
• Abuse Charges against Sonoma Priest: 10 Felony, 1 Misdemeanor Sex Counts Filed; Former Judge Urges Prosecution of Bishop for Failing to Quickly Notify Authorities, by Guy Kovner, Press-Democrat (6/23/06)
• Letter, by Bishop Daniel F. Walsh, Diocese of Santa Barbara (6/23/06) [with a "Chronology of Ochoa Report"]
• Documents Detail Abuse Allegations, by Martin Espinoza, Press Democrat (7/28/06)
• Ochoa Case Timeline, Press Democrat (8/11/06) [with links to articles]
• Sheriff's Office: Strong Case against Walsh: Criminal Charges May Be Filed against SR Bishop for Failing to Report Suspected Sex Abuse, by Martin Espinoza, Lori A. Carter, and Mary Callahan, Press-Democrat (8/25/06)

Santa Rosa and Ochoa's Role

The Santa Rosa diocese runs up the coast of Northern California from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. See our map of the California dioceses. Santa Rosa's troubled history under Bishop Patrich Ziemann is described in Bishop Bad Boy, by Ron Russell, SF Weekly (3/19/03). Ochoa was Director of Hispanic Seminarians (1990-93) for Ziemann and his predecessor Bishop John T. Steinbock, and in that position brought in Rev. Hume Salas, who was to be Ziemann's downfall. See Hume's Road to Ordination, by Bleys W. Rose, Press Democrat (9/19/99).

Ochoa then worked as Ziemann's Director of Hispanic Ministry (1992-99), during which time he is accused of abusing a boy. Two of Ochoa's chancery colleagues from the Ziemann years—Rev. Daniel Whelton and Msgr. James Pulskamp—met with Ochoa and Bishop Walsh on 4/28/06 and also failed to make a timely report to the authorities.

Runaway Priests

The Ochoa case is a current and apparently prosecutable example of a recurring problem in the Catholic abuse crisis—the flight of accused priests to foreign countries. See Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plain Sight, by Reese Dunklin et al., Dallas Morning News (6/20/04); and Runaway Priests: In the Shadow of the Vatican, by Reese Dunklin, Dallas Morning News (9/12/04).

How to Help

Write a brief email to Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan R. Passalacqua, thanking him for his attention to the Ochoa case and asking him to to bring criminal charges against Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh, if he agrees with Sonoma County sheriff's deputies that there is sufficient evidence.

• See a recent article on the sheriff's report.
• Passalacqua's email address is: spassala@sonoma-county.org.
• See also Passalacqua's about us and contact page.
• Please let us know if you've emailed Passalacqua.

Write a letter to the editor of the Press Democrat and/or the San Francisco Chronicle, thanking them for their coverage of this important case and expressing your support for criminal charges against Bishop Walsh if the district attorney considers them warranted.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat

• Visit www.pressdemocrat.com/services/feedback.html, select "I want to send a letter to the editor," and enter your letter in the space provided.
• Please let us know if you send a letter.
• Click here for SNAP's helpful guide on writing letters to the editor.
• Here are samples of the Press Democrat's work on this story

San Francisco Chronicle

• Send via email to letters@sfchronicle.com.
• Click here for more info on writing a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle.
• Please let us know if you send a letter.
• Click here for SNAP's helpful guide to writing letters to the editor.
• See a recent Chronicle article on the case: Catholic Bishop May Face Jail, by John Coté, San Francisco Chronicle (8/26/06).

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