HOUSTON (TX)
Associated Press
May 3, 2019
By Juan A. Lozano
A victim advocacy group says the indictment of a Houston-area Roman Catholic priest on child indecency charges sends a message that “those who hurt children can and will be held accountable.”
Manuel La Rosa-Lopez was indicted Thursday on two of four counts that had led to his Sept. 11 arrest.
The two counts arise from allegations made by a female parishioner who accused La Rosa-Lopez of courting her for sex and groping her in 2000 when she was a teenager.
Tyler Dunman, chief of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Special Crimes Bureau, says he expects more indictments “relatively soon.”
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Friday it hopes the indictment encourages other victims to come forward.
La Rosa-Lopez’s attorney, Wendell Odom, says his client maintains his innocence.
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