NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Guardian [London, England]
May 27, 2023
By Ramon Antonio Vargas
Patrick Wattigny, a former school chaplain outside New Orleans, is considering a guilty plea but could be out of prison in three years
A Louisiana man accusing a Roman Catholic priest of molesting him as a child has spoken out against what he says is an overly lenient sentence being offered to the defendant in exchange for a guilty plea.
The accuser, 24, is pressing a criminal case against Patrick Wattigny, who worked as a chaplain at the alleged victim’s high school and was charged with abuse against him in 2013.
Wattigny, 56, is considering pleading guilty to a single count of molestation of a juvenile in exchange for three years in prison, according to what the accuser says has been communicated to him by the suburban New Orleans-area district attorney’s office handling the case.
But the accuser says any prison sentence of less than 10 years is offensive, and through his lawyers he has said as much to the prosecution.
“It just seems crazy that someone can get as low as three years for doing something so detrimental to someone else’s life,” the victim – who has not yet chosen to reveal his identity to the public – said to the Guardian on Friday. “It’s crazy to me how you can just go back to living life after a short sentence like that. It really is offensive to me.”
According to the victim, a prosecutor told them the terms of the proposed sentence were extended by St Tammany parish state judge John Keller after Wattigny opted to be tried by a judge rather than a jury. Other terms would purportedly call for five years of probation after his release and a requirement to register as a sex offender.
Prosecutors described themselves as unhappy with the proposed three years of prison but said their options were limited as the agreement would leave sentencing to the discretion of the judge if Wattigny pleaded guilty, the victim said.
Louisiana law calls for anyone convicted of molestation of juveniles under their supervision to spend between five and 20 years in prison.
The plea arrangement apparently being considered by Wattigny would technically call for 10 years in prison, though seven of them would be suspended as long as he successfully completes the rest of his punishment.
Neither Keller, the office of the St Tammany district attorney, nor Wattigny responded to requests for comment Friday. A preliminary hearing in Wattigny’s case is tentatively set for 31 May. His trial is tentatively scheduled for 12 June.
Wattigny’s case is among the more recent to produce criminal charges in the US amid the worldwide Catholic church’s decades-old clerical sexual abuse crisis. In a separate case in Ohio earlier this month, a federal jury convicted a priest, Michael Zacharias, of paying money and threatening harm to three sexually trafficked victims whom he met through his role at a local church, including two who were first preyed on when they were minors.
Zacharias faces between 15 years and life in prison when he is sentenced later.
Ordained in 1994 by the archdiocese of New Orleans, Wattigny worked at several Catholic institutions in a region with about a half-million Catholics. One of his assignments was as chaplain at Pope John Paul II high school in Slidell, a St Tammany city to the north-east of New Orleans.
He first fell under scrutiny when school officials learned from a student’s mother that he was sending inappropriate text messages to the pupil. The archdiocese then successfully asked him to resign from that position in the summer of 2020 and removed him from the ministry after he was caught resuming contact with that student.
Around that time, the victim in the case set to go to trial in mid-June – another student at Pope John Paul – reported that Wattigny had molested him in 2013. He was arrested in the fall of 2020 at a home in Georgia, later charged on those allegations by prosecutors, and made bail in the amount of $150,000 to secure his release from custody pending the case’s outcome.
Wattigny was then arrested last year on accusations of molesting a separate child. He made bail again – this time of $75,000 – but as of Friday had not been charged by prosecutors in connection with that case.
The victim whose case is soon set for trial told the Guardian that the decision to pursue a case against Wattigny had been grueling for him and his family. He said he is a first-generation American from an immigrant family full of pious Catholics and finds it difficult to even look at them knowing that he was abused by a priest who exploited their trust.
“I can literally see the pain that they look at me with,” the victim said, through tears. “It’s every time I look at them – and it’s really sad. It’s really fucking sad.”
Wattigny is one of more than 70 priests or deacons that New Orleans’s archdiocese has included on a list of clerics whom local church leaders consider to be credibly accused of sexually abusing a child or vulnerable adult over the years.
The list had slightly more than 50 names when it was initially released in 2018, but it has been expanded multiple times amid continued reports of previously undisclosed abuse. The archdiocese in 2020 filed for bankruptcy protection after the initial list and some of its earlier updates prompted a wave of lawsuits seeking damages.
Government-led investigations in various US states – including the attorneys general of Illinois, Pennsylvania and Maryland – have repeatedly detailed how clergy sexual abuse was more widespread than Catholic officials in their jurisdictions had led the public to believe at first.
Despite that, Louisiana’s state government has refused to launch a similar investigation, though federal agents last year opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by New Orleans church personnel.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International