COLORADO
Westword
By Michael Roberts
Wed., May 23 2012
The arrest affidavit pertaining to Father Charles Robert Manning, an ex-Catholic priest in Colorado Springs who’s been busted on suspicion of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, is currently sealed. But comments from a woman who says she reported Manning to authorities suggest that the 77 year old acted like a “jealous lover” in regard to the alleged object of his affection, age fifteen.
The information comes courtesy of the Colorado Springs Gazette, which has been following this story since January. That’s when the Reverend Rafael Torres-Rico told the congregation at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church that Manning had been asked to step down while he was being investigated for sexually abusing a minor.
Torres-Rico didn’t provide additional details about the accusations. Likewise, the Colorado Springs Police Department released a statement confirming the investigation and praising the church for its cooperation without offering any other information.
The Tuesday arrest of Manning, who came to the Springs from Missouri in 2007 and formally retired from the priesthood in February, wasn’t accompanied by a sudden gusher of factoids from the CSPD. But the Gazette spoke with a woman who became concerned about Manning’s relationship with a fifteen-year-old friend of the family.
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