Fr. Heriberto Castrellion Mejia

From Colombia. Assigned in the Diocese of Salt Lake City 1990-1992. Faculties removed in 10/1992 after the Diocese received allegations in 8/1991 and 10/1992 against Mejia of sexual abuse. In 12/2024 a man reported to Salt Lake’s Bishop Solis that Mejia sexually abused him when he was 16 in 1991. The boy graduated high school in 1992 and was in seminary in OH when he heard that Mejia had been forced out of the diocese. He said he felt relieved because he was anxious that he might have to see the priest again; then Mejia contacted him and said he was a hospital chaplain in Detroit and wanted to visit. The young seminarian contacted the Salt Lake City diocese’s vicar general, Msgr. Robert Bussen, thinking he would prevent the visit. The vicar general instead said “Enjoy your time with him,” despite being fully aware of allegations against Mejia. Mejia visited and again molested the teenager. In 7/2025 the Diocese released a statement that Mejia was removed from the diocese in 1992 “for reasons unrelated to sexual misconduct.” However, in 2019 the Diocese reported to police that Mejia had “confessed to sexually exploiting two juveniles in 1991” and had “been deported to Colombia.” In 7/2025 the Diocese stated that it reported the former seminarian’s allegations to police and was conducting an internal investigation. It also said that Mejia had lost his priestly faculties in his diocese in Colombia. Reportedly in 8/2025, the Diocese found the allegations credible and apologized to the man who came forward in 12/2024. The man called for the removal of the faculties of Msgr. Bussen and Msgr. Terrence Fitzgerald, who he said “conceal[ed] Mejia’s misconduct.”