AURORA (IL)
Beacon-News/Chicago Tribune
November 17, 2017
By Hannah Leone
The trial for an Aurora priest charged with sexually abusing girls at their Catholic church has been pushed back again, from November to February, while lawyers figure out whether the lead investigator on the case destroyed or withheld notes that could affect its outcome.
The investigator’s resignation from the Kane County Child Advocacy Center has complicated legal proceedings involving his work, including that of Alfredo Pedraza Arias, a Colombia national whose lost his temporary religious worker visa after he was charged with sexually abusing two young girls at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora and one of the girls’ homes between 2012 and 2014. Arias, 50, has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment.
Immigration officials first arrested Arias at the county’s St. Charles courthouse while he was free on bond after a hearing in May; an immigration judge ordered him voluntarily deported in June; and prosecutors have sought a series of bail and custody orders in efforts to keep him here through trial. He’s been back in the county jail since July 28.
Prosecutors were going to call the investigator as a witness but now aren’t planning to, according to court filings.
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