AUSTIN (TX)
KWTX-10 [Waco, TX]
May 25, 2026
By Tommy Witherspoon and Jessica Rajkumar
Jury selection in the sexual assault trial of former Central Texas Catholic priest Anthony Odiong is set to begin Tuesday morning in Waco’s 19th State District Court.
Odiong, 57, a native of Nigeria, is charged with five first-degree felony counts of sexual assault and two second-degree felony counts of sexual assault involving three of his former parishioners who sought his spiritual guidance.
Odiong, a former priest in West, Waco, Louisiana and Florida, is charged with “exploiting his parishioners’ emotional dependency upon him as a spiritual adviser and engaging in sexual conduct with them,” according to court documents.
Sexual assault normally is a second-degree felony. However, it can be charged as a first degree, punishable by up to life in prison, if a defendant is prohibited under the bigamy statute from marrying the victim. Some of Odiong’s alleged victims are married.
While at least nine alleged victims have come forward since his arrest in Florida in 2024, including one woman that DNA tests confirmed had Odiong’s child, the prosecution’s case-in-chief involves only three of the alleged victims. Their cases were consolidated for this trial.
Judge Thomas West has ordered 100 potential jurors to report Tuesday morning for jury selection. That is about 40 more potential jurors that are normally summoned for a regular jury panel because of the high-profile nature of the case.
The panel has be given questionnaires to fill out to aid prosecutors and defense attorneys in the jury selection process. Many of the questions pertain to the prospective jurors’ religious beliefs and upbringing and whether they can sit in judgment of others.
Odiong remains jailed under bonds totaling $5.5 million. He is represented by Waco attorneys Gerald Villarrial, Hunter Slocum and Carolina Truesdale.
Odiong remains popular with many of his former parishioners, including those from St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption in West. Some of his loyal followers offered to donate funds to help Odiong bond out of jail at a bond reduction hearing in November2024. West declined to reduce his bonds.
First Assistant District Attorney Ryan Calvert and Assistant District Attorney Liz Buice are prosecuting the case, with testimony expected to begin Wednesday morning.
Odiong also served at St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center at Baylor University before moving to St. Anthony of Padua in Luling, La. He was arrested in July 2024 near Naples, Florida, on child pornography charges after Waco police investigators found two images of a young girl’s breast and vagina on his phone.
Villarrial argued at a pretrial hearing Thursday that a parishioner worried about her sick child had sent the photos to the father, asking Odiong to pray for healing for the girl. The photos reportedly showed the girl with skin irritations and a possible rash, Villarrial said.
It is not clear when church officials at the Catholic Diocese of Austin learned about the allegations against Odiong, but the diocese told KWTX after Odiong’s arrest that it sent warnings to dioceses in New Orleans and Nigeria in 2019.
The Austin diocese stripped Odiong in 2019 of “authorization to engage in priestly ministry” throughout the diocese, even on a temporary basis.
The diocese’s actions were based on complaints about Odiong’s behavior with adult women and “his failure to follow protocols for visiting clergy to present a testimonial of suitability for ministry from his bishop.”
Odiong is alleged to have engaged in unlawful sexual activity with the women from 2010 to 2012.
Calvert informed the court at Thursday’s hearing that Odiong is exempt from the normal 10-year statute of limitations on sexual assault cases because he is alleged to have committed the same or similar sex offense against five or more victims.