HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Public Media
October 4, 2018
By Alvaro Ortiz
A third accuser of a Conroe priest who is under investigation for child abuse has come forward.
The law firm Schiffer Hicks Johnson said in a statement they’ve been hired “to represent what is now a third victim of sexual abuse by Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez.”
The firm detailed that the client –who wishes to remain anonymous for the time being– “was an adolescent altar boy in the mid-1990s at a church in Houston when he was subjected to several acts of inappropriate behavior by Mr. La Rosa-Lopez, who was then a seminarian studying for the priesthood.”
According to the statement, the boy “told his guardians about the abuse at the time, and they alerted a supervising priest, but no action was taken. Instead, La Rosa-Lopez was ordained.”
The third accuser decided to come forward after hearing reports of other La Rosa-Lopez victims. The statement noted he has suffered “a lasting impact.”
On behalf of the accuser, the firm criticized the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for having turned “a blind eye to a sexual predator and buried the problem.”
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement that “this case is a reminder that anyone coming forward with allegations of abuse should immediately go to independent officials like the police or a trusted therapist, not officials at the very church where they were abused.”
“We hope that anyone else who may have been hurt by Fr. LaRosa-Lopez feels that they are able to come forward,” SNAP added on is statement.
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