SACRAMENTO (CA)
KCRA TV [Sacramento, CA]
September 23, 2022
By Greta Serrin
A priest with the Diocese of Sacramento has been added to a list of clergy accused of child sex abuse and now authorities have a search warrant out for his arrest.
Roberto Jaramillo, 70, was added to the list of accused clergy this week. He served as a priest in multiple churches across the Sacramento and Roseville area between 1995 and 2005, according to the Diocese of Sacramento.
The churches he served in were Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in downtown Sacramento, St. Rose Parish in Roseville, Immaculate Conception Parish in Oak Park and St. Rose Parish in south Sacramento.
Jaramillo has been accused of repeated sexual abuse and rape of a girl in the late 1990s, spanning from 1996 to 1999. The diocese was notified of the allegations by a third party in 2021.
They said they repeatedly tried to reach and interview the victim.
“The Diocese is cooperating with investigators and asks anyone with information about Jaramillo – in particular, with information related to possible additional victims – to contact Detective Matthew Wollman of the Sacramento Police Department at 916-808-1223,” the diocese said in a release.
The diocese said it learned in August 2022 that the police department was investigating. The diocese’s independent review board approved Jaramillo’s name to be added to the credibly accused list this week.
A felony warrant has also been issued for the alleged crimes, the Sacramento Police Department confirmed to KCRA 3 on Friday.
The diocese said it has two more allegations involving Jaramillo.
“In 1999, Jaramillo was accused of kissing a juvenile boy. Jaramillo denied this accusation, and investigations by both the diocese and local law enforcement at the time found insufficient evidence to warrant further action,” the diocese said. “In 2020, the diocese received a report of Jaramillo sexually abusing an adult male in 2001.”
Jaramillo left the Diocese of Sacramento in 2005 to serve in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and in 2008 he returned to his home parish in Colombia.
“The actions described in these matters are reprehensible and sickening,” said Jaime Soto, Bishop of Sacramento. “It is heartbreaking to consider the betrayal these sins represent toward innocent victims. We are committed to cooperating with investigators and doing all we can to secure justice for those who were betrayed and hurt.”
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests responded to Jaramillo being added to the credibly accused priests list by criticizing the diocese saying they, “failed twice to remove Jaramillo.”
“The Diocese of Sacramento, in our viewpoint, wants to appear aggressive in tackling the pandemic situation of clerical abuse, yet it only required the review board a short time in late summer to determine that this priest be now deemed credibly accused even though previously identified in the 1990s,” SNAP, who provides support for victims of sexual abuse, said in a release.
SNAP also brought up concerns that he worked in Atlanta and that there may be more victims there.
You can find a full list of accused priests and deacons here.
The diocese encourages anyone who may be a victim of clergy sexual abuse, or who knows someone who may be, to report this to law enforcement, and to seek help for the pain it has caused. The Diocese’s Pastoral Care Coordinator may be reached through a toll-free number at 866-777-9133.
If you have information on Roberto Jaramillo you can call Detective Matthew Wollman with the Sacramento Police Department’s sexual abuse and child abuse department at 916-808 – 1223 or through email, mwollman@pd.cityofsacramento.org.