OHIO
10TV
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – A criminal complaint against a man who was studying to be a priest at a Columbus seminary has revealed appalling new details of how he tried to adopt infants to rape and sexually abuse.
(WARNING: Some of what you are about to read is upsetting and graphic. Discretion is advised.)
July 2014: Joel Wright travels to Tijuana, Mexico after communicating with a person (only known as “reporting person” in a criminal complaint) via Craigslist in hopes of “obtaining” a child. In a Tijuana hotel, Wright paid the person an adoption fee. The person then left the hotel and did not return, scamming Wright out of the so-called “fee.”
Wright returns to the United States the same month.
July 2015: The reporting person began to communicate with Wright again via Craigslist using a different e-mail address. In this case, Wright was looking for a tour guide in Tijuana for “a medical appointment, meeting a woman to marry, and adopting a child.”
Wright explained to the reporting person that he wanted to engage in sex with a female infant. When asked if he had done this before, he stated he never had sex with a child, but had “made it very close.”
November 2015: The reporting person contacts the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about his communication with Wright.
December 3, 2015: Undercover federal agents take over the reporting person’s e-mail and resume communicating with Wright, who goes on to describe in graphic detail how he would rape and molest infants.
He also offers to give the agent a 4-year-old he was planning to adopt and rape “as a present.”
December 10, 2015: The undercover agent buys an airline ticket for Wright to fly to Tijuana with the intent of raping at least two children (ages 4 and 1).
December 11, 2015: Wright suddenly backs out of the travel plans without explanation and tells the undercover agent to have no further contact with him.
December 28, 2015: Wright places a third ad in the community section of the Tijuana Craigslist for a female tour guide.
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.