MARYLAND
ABC 2
Dakarai Turner
BALTIMORE – The Archdiocese of Baltimore has banned a priest from serving or returning to work within the diocese after they say he admitted to sexual abuse of a minor.
The Archdiocese said Fr. Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez had sexual contact with a teenage girl multiple times beginning in 2007 and possibly continuing into 2010, the last year Velez-Lopez served within the diocese.
The information came to light in January when the victim told the Archdiocese about it, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said Friday. The Archdiocese says they began looking into it immediately and filed charges with the Howard County Police Department, where Valez-Lopez served at St. John the Evangelist in Columbia from 2003 to 2010.
The victim was a parishioner at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Laurel, the spokesman said.
Valez-Lopez also ministered to members of Spanish-speaking communities at Resurrection of Our Lord, Holy Trinity in Glen Burnie, St. John the Evangelist in Frederick, Sacred Heart in Glyndon and St. Joseph in Cockeysville.
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