CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee
BY DARRELL SMITH
dvsmith@sacbee.com
May 12, 2014
Maria Bunter heard the news over the weekend and couldn’t believe it. Not our Hector, she said. Can’t be.
But on Monday, days after a popular priest at her Davis church was arrested on allegations of sex with a 17-year-old girl, sadness joined Bunter’s disbelief as reality sank in. Hector Coria, 45, a pastor at St. James Parish in Davis, was arrested by Davis police Friday on suspicion of oral copulation and statutory rape involving the teen.
Davis police allege that while a priest at St. James in 2013, Coria befriended the girl and that the two later engaged in sexual relations. Police on Monday offered little information but said search warrants yielded enough to arrest the pastor Friday night. Coria remained free on bail Monday.
“We have a great deal of compassion for him and all concerned. He was a wonderful priest,” Bunter said Monday, standing with husband Walter in the parish parking lot. Coria, she said, always “found the right words” at the pulpit.
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