SACRAMENTO (CA)
SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]
September 23, 2022
By Dorothy Small
The Diocese of Sacramento today added Roberto Jaramillo, a priest who worked in Sacramento and Roseville between 1995 and 2005, to its listing of clergy who have been credibly accused of child sex abuse. Jaramillo, aged 70, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting a girl between 1996 and 1999. In 2005, Jaramillo left the Diocese of Sacramento to work for the Archdiocese of Atlanta before returning to Colombia in 2008.
A third party brought concerns of the 1996 rape and abuse to the diocese’s notice in 2021. To investigate the problem, the diocese alerted police authorities and according to a statement by the diocese, they purportedly made many attempts to reach and interview the victim.
The diocese had additional claims against Jaramillo. Jaramillo was accused of kissing a young boy in 1999. Jaramillo disputed the claim, and investigations conducted at the time by both the diocese and local law enforcement found insufficient evidence to justify further action. More allegations surfaced against Jaramillo with claims that he sexually abused an adult man in 2001. This surfaced according to an allegation received by the diocese in 2020.
Sadly, we are not surprised to learn that the diocesan review board, just this week, agreed to add Jaramillo’s name to the list of those credibly accused, there is an arrest warrant now issued for him. The Diocese of Sacramento states that in August 2022, the case involving the young girl from 1996 was being investigated by the Sacramento Police Department. The diocese shared its findings with investigators and was able to gather enough evidence to submit the case to the diocese’s Independent Review Board.
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 was an abuser previously identified in the 1990s.
We know this is not an isolated case, but rather another failure to safeguard children and adults from an abuser reported to the diocese. The Diocese failed twice to remove Jaramillo and disclose all evidence of suspected crimes received. The Archdiocese of Atlanta also had this wanted man working in their faith community. Are there victims there? We suspect so. How many other people in the Sacramento Diocese are like Jaramillo? How many others have been “investigated” and then left in positions of power? How many suspected abusive clerics have fled the country?
To report information on Roberto Jaramillo to investigators: Detective Matthew Wollman, Sexual Abuse and Child Abuse, Sacramento Police Department (916) 808 – 1223 mwollman@pd.cityofsacramento.org
-CONTACT: Dorothy Small, SNAP Sacramento (dsmall@snapnetwork.org, 530-908-3676) Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Coordinator (msakoda@snapnetwork.org, 925-708-6175) Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (mmcdonnell@snapnetwork.org, 267-261-0578)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)