ARIZONA
AZCentral
Stephen Root, 12 News | azcentral.com
The Catholic Diocese of Gallup New Mexico, the area of which reaches into parts of northern Arizona, has released 22 new names on a list of priests it says have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors.
The additions bring the total number to 31 on a list of cases dating back to 1950. Some of the accused are already deceased, but at least one was working as a priest in Arizona as recently as last year.
“It brings back bad memories,” said abuse survivor Joseph Baca on a 2013 trip to his boyhood church in Winslow, a place where he’s believed to be one of at least 15 boys sexually abused by then-priest Father Clement Hageman.
“My abuse started when I was about 9 years old,” Baca said. “I told my mom and she said no, I’m lying.”
Tuesday’s announcement was another small victory for victims like Baca. Seventeen of those named worked in churches across northern Arizona, in communities such as Flagstaff, Prescott, Holbrook and Show Low.
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