PUERTO RICO
Canoe
REUTERS
May 13, 2014
SAN JUAN – U.S. authorities on Tuesday arrested a 58-year-old Catholic priest in Puerto Rico on child sexual abuse charges, marking the first such detention in the U.S. territory by federal officials.
Israel Berrios was taken into custody at a relative’s home in the rural town of Naranjito, said Ivan Ortiz, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Berrios was arrested after a federal grand jury delivered four charges against him for sexual trafficking of minors and transportation of a minor with the intention of involving the minor in an illicit sexual act, Ortiz said.
Berrios faces a sentence from 10 years to life in prison. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
Bishop Ruben Gonzalez, who heads the Caguas Diocese where Berrios worked, said he cooperated with authorities in the case after receiving the original complaint early last year.
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