Seminarian Eric Michael Manuel
Diocese: Diocese of Lafayette LA
Attended St. Joseph’s Seminary in Covington, LA. Worked during college as a youth minister at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette. Became a Eucharistic Minister and Confirmation class teacher at St. Thomas More. In 12/2011 was discovered to have sent a 15-year-old boy sexually explicit cellphone messages. Criminally investigated. Found to have been soliciting sexual images from boys, ages 13-17, posing as a 14-year-old girl. Threatened one boy who refused. Indicted in 1/2012 on 18 counts of child pornography production and two counts of “using a facility of interstate commerce to persuade a minor to engage in criminal sexual acts.” Pleaded guilty. Admitted to engaging boys in sex and paying them for oral sex. Sentenced 3/22/2013 to 27 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervision.
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