WACO (TX)
KWTX-10 [Waco, TX]
June 1, 2026
By Tommy Witherspoon
Victim: The Catholic Church and Baylor University are “historically inhospitable behemoths for sexual assault victims to implore for justice in McLennan County.”
Heeding a prosecutor’s plea to let their collective voices be heard by the Vatican, a McLennan County jury sentenced former Central Texas Catholic priest Anthony Odiong to a maximum life prison term on Tuesday.
Jurors in Waco’s 19th State District Court deliberated 90 minutes Tuesday before recommending that Judge Thomas West sentence the former charismatic spiritual adviser to life in prison and two 20-year prison terms, which Odiong will serve concurrently. They also returned fines totaling $30,000.
Jurors on Friday found Odiong guilty of one first-degree felony sexual assault count and two second-degree felony sexual assault counts.
The 57-year-old Odiong, a native Nigerian who served as a priest in Waco, West, Louisiana, Rome and Florida, must be given credit for serving at least 30 years in prison before he can seek parole. The judge gave him credit for the nearly two years he spent in the McLennan County Jail waiting for his case to be resolved.
Defense attorney Gerald Villarrial, who asked the jury to grant Odiong probation, said Odiong will appeal. He said Odiong, who did not testify and showed no emotion throughout the trial, was hoping for probation but had consigned himself to a lengthy prison term.
Prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice introduced evidence that nine women came forward with complaints that they were sexually assaulted or treated inappropriately sexually by Odiong while he served as their spiritual adviser.
They also proved Odiong is the father of a 3-year-old daughter whose mother was a parishioner of Odiong’s in Luling, La.
A former Waco woman testified she carried on a three-year sexual relationship with Odiong while he served at St. Peter Catholic Center on the Baylor University campus. Their sexual relationship ended after two of the woman’s children walked in on her and Odiong having sex in the woman’s bedroom.
“Tell that man sitting there,” Calvert said, pointing to Odiong, “in a voice loud enough to be heard in Rome that he is done. He is done. That he doesn’t get to do this anymore. He can’t be a priest anymore.”
Despite a few complaints lodged against Odiong as early as 2010, the Catholic Diocese of Austin waited until September 2018 to strip Odiong of the authority to engage in any priestly activities. However, he continued to do so, moving to Louisiana and later to Florida.
Calvert and Buice complimented the Diocese of Austin for its cooperation in the case and praised the Waco Police Department, especially former Detective Bradley DeLange, for a thorough investigation.
However, in an angry, emotional statement after Odiong was sentenced to life in prison, the former Waco woman, a former Baylor employee, called the Catholic Church and Baylor are “historically inhospitable behemoths for sexual assault victims to implore for justice in McLennan County.”
She said she felt that both entities engaged in victim shaming and displayed a “don’t embarrass us” attitude, making her feel maligned and discredited.
She quoted Luke 8:17, which says, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” She said she prays for the other victims and her children, whose lives she said are “indelibly marked by evil.”
In a statement released Tuesday, the Diocese of Austin said officials there are saddened to learn the details revealed at Odiong’s six-day trial and are hopeful that the verdict “brings some peace to those who were harmed.”
“The Diocese of Austin is grateful to the Waco law enforcement officers, local authorities, jurors and all involved in the criminal trial of Anthony Odiong,” according to the statement. “We also express profound regret that Fr. Odiong imposed harm upon members of the faithful. It is inexcusable for a priest to have taken advantage of the faithful.”
Odiong remains a priest but is prevented from functioning as a priest by church authorities, the Diocese said.
“We understand that this might be confusing to those who are not well acquainted with the law of the Church, but it is unlike a secular job where you can be terminated immediately. However, dismissal from the clerical state is one form of penalty that can be applied when a priest is found guilty of a canonical crime according to the law of the Church.
“It is normative for canonical proceedings to either be suspended or delayed while criminal and civil litigation is taking place so as not to interfere with the fair and equitable administration of justice. Once all litigation is complete, canonical proceedings may continue,” according to the statement.
The Waco law firm of Callahan & King represent two of Odiong’s victim and plan to file a civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Austin.
“Watching the trial that unfolded over the past more than a week has been a grave mixture of sadness and awe,” the attorneys said in a statement. “Sadness at hearing of the deep pain this man’s actions have caused to so many who were so vulnerable, but awe at the strength these women put on display to expose this man’s heinous an ungodly acts. However, we know that punishment of the abuser does not equate to healing for the abused.”
Buice read a victim impact statement from another of Odiong’s victims, who said Odiong, her former priest in Luling, La., “stole my soul.”
“I still consider myself Catholic but have been unable to return to the sacramental aspects of the church,” she said. “I am in exile. When I talk of soul stealing, I mean he robbed me of my faith and it cannot be wholly restored.”
Katherine Loaiza, 32, of McGregor, one of eight women who served on the jury, called Odiong “a sexual predator wearing a priest collar.”
She said she and other members of the jury were convinced the Austin Diocese had ample warning about Odiong but chose not to act.
“I do believe that they knew about it, but they didn’t really do anything about it until this point,” she said.
She said no one on the jury considered probation for the dishonored clergyman simply because of the sheer number of his victims and the similar pattern by which he took advantage of parishioners at some of their lowest points in life.
“It was very emotional for me,” she said. “We felt that justice was served and are hoping these victims can continue with their lives and get the help they need.”
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Sentencing phase: Ex-Baylor students testify Father Anthony Odiong touched them inappropriately
Three more women, including two former Baylor University students, testified Monday that former Central Texas priest Anthony Odiong made inappropriate sexual advances toward them while they sought his spiritual guidance.
The women testified during the punishment phase of the 57-year-old Odiong’s sexual assault trial in Waco’s 19th State District Court.
A jury of eight women and four men convicted the Nigerian native on Friday of one count of first-degree felony sexual assault and two second-degree felony sexual assault counts in cases involving two women.
Testimony during the five-day trial revealed Odiong, who served in Waco, West, Louisiana, Rome, Florida and other locations, victimized as many as nine women, including one in Luling, La., who had his daughter in 2023.
Defense attorneys Gerald Villarrial and Carolina Truesdale called three of Odiong’s local supporters in defense of Odiong and intend to call one more witness Tuesday morning before the case is turned over to the jury to decide Odiong’s fate.
Odiong, who is seeking probation, faces up to life in prison on the first-degree count and up to 20 years in prison on the other two counts.
Jurors also learned Monday that Odiong has racked up $24,534 in phone charges in the nearly two years he has been in the McLennan County Jail waiting for his cases to be resolved.
In prosecution punishment phase testimony, a 2013 Baylor graduate who was contemplating becoming a nun testified Monday she became confused about the obedience she owed priests after Odiong uncomfortably delved into her personal life.
She asked him to hear her confession, which she said he did in his office behind closed doors at St. Peter Student Center on the Baylor campus. She said Odiong touched her knee and encouraged her to marry someone at the parish and dissuaded her from becoming a nun.
He said he hugged her and she felt what she thought was his erection. She said he kissed her hand, rubbed her hand on his face and told her no other woman has ever made him feel that way.
She said he later apologized after she confronted him on social media. She reported the incident to the bishop in Austin, but told jurors “nothing ever came from it.”
Another woman testified Monday that Odiong hugged her tightly and “nibbled my ear” while she also was a Baylor student.
“It felt weird for sure and was not OK,” she told prosecutors Liz Buice and Ryan Calvert.
She testified that Odiong offered her alcohol as a young student. When she reminded him she was not yet 21, he said, “You are still a baby. It will be our little secret,” she said. She also told the jury that as she was nearing graduation, Odiong hugged her, grabbed her buttocks and “squeezed with both hands.”
She said Odiong also revealed things to her that he had heard during the confessions of some of her fellow students.
In other prosecution testimony, a woman who met Odiong when he was a priest in Luling, La., testified he kissed her while she was crying and sharing troubles in her life with him. She pulled away, but he pulled her closer and kissed her again, she said.
“I was shocked and confused and I really didn’t know how to feel,” she said.
Years later, she and a friend went to visit Odiong in Florida, and they stayed at his home. They slept in separate bedrooms, she said, telling the jury that she woke up and Odiong was standing over her bed.
She cried out and he pulled the blankets over her head and ran out of the room, she said. She got up and locked the door.
The next morning, Odiong told her he didn’t remember the incident.
In defense punishment testimony, Carolyn Pustejovsky, whose son, Joey, was killed in the April 2013 West fertilizer plant explosion, worked with Odiong as the parish secretary at St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption.
She described him as “very meek,” mild and eager to please, always a gentleman. He never made her feel uncomfortable and she told Villarrial Odiong absolutely would follow the rules and regulations of probation should the jury decide to recommend it.
Jonathan Guin, of Nashville, Tenn., said he met Odiong in Luling, La., in 2016.
“If it wasn’t for Father Anthony, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you. I’d be dead,” he said.
He explained he suffered from “generational drug addiction and alcoholism” and had been given two years to live when he said Odiong performed what he called an exorcism on him.
“God used him to touch me,” Guin said. “… the roar of those demons getting ripped out of me will turn you to God.”
He said he talks to Odiong every day on the phone and continues to support him every way he can, including financially.
Calvert asked Guin if he knew Odiong sexually assaulted women over the years and had fathered a child three years ago.
Guin quoted the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and said, “When you play adult games, you get adult prizes.”
Guin also called Odiong a good candidate for probation and said he is sure he can abide by all the terms and conditions the court places on him.
Calvert reminded Guin that the Catholic Diocese of Austin stripped Odiong in September 2018 of the authority to engage in any priestly activities but he continued to do so. He asked him if he didn’t obey the Catholic church, what makes him think he would obey court orders.