CALIFORNIA
Daily Democrat
The former Woodland priest Father Uriel Ojeda apologized to the girl he molested and her family Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court as he was being sentenced to eight years in state prison.
Ojeda also said he was sorry to officials in the Catholic Church, other priests in general and the supporters who have consistently backed him throughout the years he has been accused of the molestation.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Eugene L. Balonon sentenced Ojeda, 33. He was facing 20 years in prison, but took a no-contest plea to charges that he molested the girl, who was 13 years old at the time, when he was a priest at Holy Rosary Parish in Woodland.
“You traumatized me,” the girl told him in a letter that was read to the court by the prosecutor.
“I have committed a crime and a serious sin,” Ojeda told the judge. “I would like to ask everybody for forgiveness and that they do find mercy for me.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.