LOUISIANA
KATC
Former priest Mark Broussard appeared in court Monday morning for trial on molestation charges stemming from incidents in the 1980s.
Broussard was living in Duson when he was arrested in 2012 on rape and battery charges after a letter surfaced in late 2011, alleging that the former priest had sexually abused a Calcasieu Parish man as a child.
Broussard was a priest in Lake Charles during the 1980s at St. Henry Catholic Church. The victim who wrote the letter claimed most of the sexual abuse occurred in and around the church.
Broussard resigned from the priesthood in 1994, nearly 18 years before his arrest.
On Monday, prosecutors began opening statements, telling jurors that Broussard took advantage of young boys in the congregation who were too young and scared to tell anyone that they were being abused by a priest.
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