ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

February 24, 2011

5 escándalos protagonizados por sacerdotes en Edomex

TLALNEPANTLA DE BAZ (MEXICO)
Zócalo [Saltillo, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico]

February 24, 2011

By El Universal

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Algunos representantes religiosos han sido acusados de la comisión de varios delitos.

México.- La desaparición de una adolescente en el municipio de

Atizapán de Zaragoza, quien aparentemente, mantenía una relación

afectiva con un párroco de la colonia Las Alamedas, desató la polémica

sobre los curas que aprovechan su posición y carisma para cometer

actos impropios de su condición, como religiosos.

La Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de México (PGJEM)

informó que en este caso no existen elementos que indiquen la

comisión de un delito.

En conferencia de prensa, Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, procurador de la

entidad, indicó que el sacerdote no mantenía una relación amorosa con

la menor, sino de “amistad afectiva”.

Este caso levantó muchas interrogantes. Por su parte, Gustavo

Rodríguez Vega, Obispo de Nuevo Laredo, pidió no excusar de

responsabilidades al presbítero Gerardo Romero Hernández, pero que

tampoco se le dé un trato injusto por ser clérigo.

En cualquiera de los casos, ya sea que Romero Hernández, haya

brindado apoyo a la menor ante supuestos conflictos familiares o que

efectivamente entre ambos existía una relación afectiva o incluso

amorosa, este acto vuelve a poner en el ojo del huracán a la Iglesia,

pues se traen a colación casos probados de pederastia cometidos por

sacerdotes, y no sólo en México.

En el 2009, el Papa Benedicto XVI durante una visita a Londres,

Inglaterra ofreció perdón a las víctimas de abusos sexuales cometidos

por clérigos, e indicó “reconozco con vosotros la vergüenza y la

humillación que todos nosotros hemos sufrido a causa de estos

pecados”.

El Universal presenta 5 casos donde los sacerdotes protagonizaron

casos judiciales en la entidad mexiquense:

1. En abril de 2010, el sacerdote Jéronimo Chávez, de la diócesis de

Tlalnepantla, a quien se la acusó de abuso de menores renunció al

sacerdocio, pese a que fue declarado inocente en el juicio que se le

siguió.

En 1987, Chávez fue detenido y consignado al penal de Barrientos,

acusado del abusar sexualmente de un menor de ocho años; salió de

prisión mes y medio después, luego que los familiares de la víctima le

dieran el perdón.

2. En el 2006, la PGJEM, detuvo al sacerdote César Torres Martínez, de

42 años, quien confesó el asesinato de Verónica Andrade Salinas en la

parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús ubicada en avenida Rancho

Grande, colonia Benito Juárez, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl.

Torres, admitió que sostuvo una relación amorosa con Andrade, de 22

años, quien llegó a la residencia parroquial para informarle que estaba

embarazada y pedirle dinero. Torres estranguló a la mujer y luego llevó

el cadáver hasta un baño. Allí, la decapitó y descuartizó con un cuchillo

de cocina. El padre de la víctima explicó que desde hacía más de siete

años tenían relación con el padre César cuando estaba a cargo de la

parroquia de su comunidad.

3. En 2004, el padre Alfonso Carmona, fue acusado de abuso sexual con

menores en el CERTEMAC (Centro de Rehabilitación para

Toxicómanos) en Metepec Estado de México, donde era director. Sin

embargo no hubo pruebas que le comprobaran el delito.

4. Zenón Corrales Cabrera, es un nicaragüense prófugo que en su país

fue acusado de violar a una joven en 1998. Fue trasladado a Texcoco,

Estado de México, donde la diócesis de ese municipio negó las

acusaciones en contra de Corrales Cabrera y aseguró que apoyababa al

nicaragüense, quien llegó a mediados del año 2000, para primero ser

vicario en la parroquia de Ojo de Agua, y de ahí pasó al templo de

Otumba.

5. El sacerdote Antonio Hernández fue acusado por presunto maltrato

y abuso de niños huérfanos en Metepec. Por su parte Iván Rovira,

obispo auxiliar, quien trabajó en Toluca, fue acusado de abuso sexual y

enviado a Matamoros, donde se le volvió a denunciar. Lo último que se

supo es que vivía “exiliado” en Brownsville, Texas, en Estados Unidos.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

December 14, 2007

Eric Barragan’s mission is to expose cover up of priest child abuse in Mexico

SANTA PAULA (CA)
Santa Paula Times [Santa Paula CA]

December 14, 2007

By Peggy Kelly

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Santa Paula native Eric Barragan has embarked on a mission in Mexico to bring justice to victims sexually abused by Catholic priests, a task that mixes danger and exhilaration.

Santa Paula native Eric Barragan has embarked on a mission in Mexico to bring justice to victims sexually abused by Catholic priests, a task that mixes danger and exhilaration.

Barragan, a former Santa Paula Union High School District trustee, moved to Mexico in June and has been working with social and legal experts and former priests to analyze information he unearthed “to see how we can hold the Vatican accountable” for a conspiracy in existence since 1917.

Barragan and his two brothers were for years victims of sexual abuse by a priest who served at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Their abuser, former priest Carlos Rene Rodriguez, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison in March 2004.

Barragan moved on: “I’m feeling really empowered and successful with everything going on down here,” and although after Rodriguez’s sentencing Barragan said he left the church, he again is a committed Catholic.

“I’m still Catholic, I still believe very strongly in the faith and the religion and that God” has given him the task of finding the truth.“I think that over the years, living behind different masks,” due to the circumstances of his own abuse and the pain it caused, “really prepared me” for his quest to uncover the truth behind the priest scandal in Mexico. And that led to the discovery of what he describes as an “international conspiracy. I just discovered documents that go back to 1917, instructions from the Vatican on how to deal with abusing priests… by transferring them to other churches.”

Barragan said he was surprised at how easy it was to obtain such documents – such as confidential newsletters – from archives pertaining to Canon Law. Such newsletters gave advice on how to suppress information about abusing priests, “including destroying documents, protecting the church at all costs… it’s pretty powerful.”

And highly unpopular: Barragan has been the focus of numerous death threats, has around the clock government-ordered armed protection, and has experienced suspicious instances of phone failure, including being told that his cell phone number never existed.

Barragan has been working with scores of supporters to prosecute priests – he said that more than 100 were transferred from the United States to Mexico following abuse reports or rumors – who have sexually assaulted Mexican children, and to open the door for United States prosecutions of same.

in Mexico there is “no mechanism for democracy or to hold the priest responsible; it’s like kings in their fiefdom, although I think people are getting wiser. Mexico is a religious monarchy, but it has gone from 87 percent Catholic population two years ago to 72 percent. They have lost 15 percent since SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) became so active.

”People are joining churches where they have a “voice in what is happening, no rules to hide improprieties. People will have to revolt worldwide… I don’t want that, but this medieval way of conducting business is so outdated it is perpetuating the Catholic church’s own demise.”It has been not only controversial and painful for the church, but also expensive, with the Los Angeles Archdiocese agreeing to an approximately $600 million settlement for abuse victims. Such settlements have become common throughout the nation.

Barragan has purchased a home in Mexico City, and has been contacted about broadening his activities into Central and South America. “Am I happy? I’m very happy… and very happy with what is going on, that victims are coming out and providing support to us, adding their voices to ours.” He is sad that “there are so many problems, but it adds strength to the cause.”Although a frequent visitor, Barragan misses Santa Paula and “walking by myself…. In Mexico I have to be protected and followed; I can’t go anywhere by myself, but it’s a small price to pay for the work that has to be accomplished.”Although molested by the trusted family friend and spiritual advisor for five years, starting from the time he was 12 years old, Barragan said he found salvation at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley. “The club saved my life… I spent every single day there when the abuse started. That’s where I went to protect myself from continuing to be abused.” It was, said Barragan, a “place that I felt safe.”

[MEXABC123]

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

September 13, 2007

Detienen a cura por pederastia en Guerrero

ACAPULCO (MEXICO)
La Jornada [Mexico City, Mexico]

September 13, 2007

By Sergio Ocampo Arista

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Chilpancingo, Gro. La Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) presentó al sacerdote Hermilo Gerardo Solís Jaimes, quien fue detenido la tarde del miércoles en el municipio de Xochixtlahuaca, en la Costa Chica de Guerrero, acusado de violar a una niña de siete años, y a cuando menos otras 10 menores de edad, ilícitos que habría iniciado en 2004.

De acuerdo con la PGJE, el clérigo fue trasladado el miércoles por la noche a las instalaciones de la dependencia, luego de que fue detenido poco después de las 6 de la tarde en la comunidad Xochixtlahuaca, cuando se hallaba a punto de oficiar una misa en la iglesia de María Guadalupe.

El presbítero, de 51 años de edad y originario de Acapulco, fue puesto a disposición de la Fiscalía de Delitos Sexuales de la PGJE, bajo la averiguación previa BRA/EDS/01/221/2004, acusado de haber violado a una niña de siete años, aunque trascendió que otras diez pequeñas habrían sido víctimas de abusos sexuales a manos del inculpado en el seminario ubicado en la comunidad Dos Caminos, municipio de Chilpancingo.

La PGJE asimismo mencionó que en febrero anterior el sacerdote Solís Jaimes viajó a los estados de Veracruz y Sonora, con la finalidad de ubicarse en alguna diócesis de esas entidades, pero tal plan no se concretó.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

August 26, 2006

SANTA ROSA / Catholic bishop may face jail

GUADALAJARA (MEXICO)
SFGATE [San Francisco CA]

August 26, 2006

By John Coté , Chronicle Staff Writer

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The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has recommended criminal charges be filed against Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh for failing to timely report evidence of sexual abuse by a Sonoma priest who has since fled the country.

“Based upon our investigation, the evidence indicates that this case is worthy of district attorney review,” Lt. Dave Edmonds said in a written statement released Friday. It is up to the Sonoma County district attorney’s office to decide whether it can prove Walsh broke the law and whether there is “sufficient evidence and circumstances to sustain a conviction,” Edmonds said.

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua could not be reached for comment.

If prosecutors decide to charge Walsh, the case would appear to mark the first time a U.S. Catholic Church official has faced criminal prosecution for failing to properly report sexual abuse.

It would also be the first case where a U.S. bishop was charged in the sexual abuse scandal that has marred the Catholic Church for more than a decade and seen priests from Massachusetts to California face criminal prosecution, a victims’ rights official said.

“The very root cause of this is because bishops aided and abetted or transferred priests they knew were molesters and perpetuated the abuse — somewhere that’s got to stop,” said Mary Grant, the Western regional director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “I hope that law enforcement, for the first time, (charges a bishop) because this is the root cause.”

Walsh and an attorney for the diocese could not be reached for comment. In a statement posted earlier on the Diocese of Santa Rosa Web site, the bishop apologized for not immediately reporting suspected abuse by the Rev. Francisco Xavier Ochoa, 68, but said that his delay was “an error in judgment” and not intended to allow Ochoa time to escape.

“The best way to renew the healing process and rebuild a spirit of understanding is to admit my own personal fault, and accept any consequences that may ensue,” Walsh wrote. “If I am found guilty for not taking immediate action, I will accept whatever punishment is imposed.”

State law requires clergy, teachers and others to report suspected child abuse to a law enforcement agency “immediately or as soon as is practicably possible” and then follow up with a written statement within 36 hours. Failure to do so is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine.

Walsh, in a letter to his parish, said Ochoa admitted in an April 28 meeting that he’d sexually abused a boy in Sonoma County and confessed to two other incidents with boys in Napa County and Mexico years earlier. Two other church officials were present at the meeting, Walsh wrote.

The boy in the alleged Sonoma County incident was 12 years old at the time, and the boys in the other two alleged incidents were between the ages of 14 and 16 at the time, according to the district attorney’s office.

Walsh said in the letter that he consulted with the diocese’s attorney the next day, on Saturday, April 29, and a decision was made that the attorney would notify authorities after the weekend, on Monday, May 1 — three days after the initial meeting with Ochoa.

Authorities have said they believe Ochoa fled to Mexico in early May. He is being sought on a warrant alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on 10 felonies — including lewd acts with a child, forcible sodomy and oral copulation — and a misdemeanor charge.

According to court documents, Ochoa acknowledged kissing the 12-year-old boy on the mouth and offering him $100 to do a striptease. Another alleged victim said Ochoa showed him gay pornographic videos, authorities have said.

Walsh has said he immediately placed Ochoa on administrative leave, removed him from all ministries and barred him from serving as a priest. The bishop has said he is “deeply sorry” for not immediately reporting Ochoa’s “reprehensible behavior” to authorities.

“I waited from an excess of caution,” Walsh wrote to parishioners. “In attempting to consult first with our diocesan attorney, I made a mistake. I failed to be guided by my own precepts for decisive action and for doing the right thing.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.