WACO (TX)
Crux [Denver CO]
June 3, 2026
By Christopher R. Altieri
A disgraced priest who served for years in Texas and Louisiana has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of sex crimes last week.
The 57-year-old convict, Father Anthony Odiong of the Diocese of Uyo, Nigeria, served for years in the Diocese of Austin, Texas, and in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
The jury that heard the case for the 19th District Court of Texas’s McLennan County in Waco, Texas, also pronounced the sentence, which included two 20-year terms for second-degree sexual assault felonies in addition to the life sentence for first-degree felony sexual assault.
The sentences are to run concurrently, and Odiong will be eligible for parole in 30 years.
Prosecutors had offered Odiong a plea deal that would have seen him serve 20 years, but the priest rejected the deal and went to trial last week.
RELATED: Odiong guilty in Texas and questions remain for several Church leaders
In Texas, clergy or others with roles of pastoral, spiritual, or counseling authority commit a felony when they exploit their position to obtain sex from a person in their care.
Odiong was arrested in 2024 on child pornography charges stemming from images uncovered during the Waco police investigation into allegations from multiple women.
Several victims came forward after Odiong’s arrest to allege the priest used his position to manipulate and sexually assault them.
Many of the allegations against Odiong date back several years and some of them come from women in Louisiana, but prosecutors avoided the statute of limitations by using the allegations to show a pattern of behavior suggesting Odiong was a serial offender.
RELATED: Questions abound as sex crimes trial looms for priest in Texas
The trial originally focused on the allegations of three women, but prosecutors dismissed charges stemming from one of the alleged victims after she failed to appear.
That left one count of sexual assault in the first degree and two counts of second-degree sexual assault pending against the priest, on all of which Odiong was convicted, on all of which Odiong has now been convicted and sentenced.
Dogged investigative reporting by the independent newspaper, The Guardian, brought Odiong’s abusive behavior before the public and played a significant role in cracking the case for investigators.
“The beginning of this case looked a lot like having to go through weeds,” investigating Detective Bradley Delange told the KCEN network after sentencing Tuesday.
“I knew that there was an attorney because of the Guardian article out in Louisiana,” Delange said, adding that he contacted the attorney and asked if she knew of other victims. “She said she did,” Delange recounted, “but because of attorney-client privilege she couldn’t tell me who they were, but she would give them my information.”
Police investigators eventually identified at least ten women with allegations against Odiong, and also were able to establish that the priest fathered a child with a Louisiana woman in 2023.
Odiong’s attorney told Texas local news outlets his client would be filing notice of appeal.
The evidence presented at trial, however, was overwhelming. The defense collapsed on Day 3 of the proceedings, when jurors heard a defense witness admit to having come to believe the charges against Odiong.
The jury convicted after only two hours of deliberation.
“I sat through most of this trial including the sentencing phase,” Baylor University philosophy professor Francis Beckwith told Crux Now. “The evidence was overwhelming,” Beckwith said, “an open and shut case.”
“The jury’s verdict and its sentencing were just,” he said.
Beckwith also noted that several of the witnesses “had affiliations with Baylor,” where Odiong ministered to Catholic students through the diocesan chaplaincy.
“I was deeply moved by their courage and cannot imagine what the victims suffered at the hands of this clerical monster.”
The trial in Texas criminal court is concluded, but allegations reported by The Guardian and evidence presented during the proceedings have raised serious questions about the handling of Odiong – and the allegations against him – by senior Church leaders in several jurisdictions, including the Diocese of Austin and the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Crux Now has been conducting a review of the case, during which the Archdiocese of New Orleans admitted to receiving complaints forwarded from Austin regarding Odiong in 2019, but “the misconduct reported from Austin involved adults,” the New Orleans archdiocese said in a statement to Crux Now.
“At that time,” the New Orleans statement continued, “archdiocesan officials chose to address the report directly with Odiong.”
The priest continued in ministry another four years, during which time he fathered a child.
Some of the allegations that are now a matter of public record concern abuse of the confessional.
Crux Now asked the Diocese of Austin whether those had been referred to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, since they are crimes at canon law reserved to the Apostolic See, meaning the DDF investigates and tries them.
Austin declined to comment, citing current legal proceedings.
“We pray that this matter soon be brought to a just conclusion,” the Diocese of Austin told Crux Now.
“If appropriate,” Austin’s statement to Crux Now continued, “considering the rights and privacy of those involved, the diocese will make a final statement to the faithful after any and all legal proceedings related to this matter are concluded.”