5 Accused in This Diocese
Fr. Jerome J. Axton
"Jerry." Named publicly as accused by the Diocese on its list in 1/2019. Axton was prohibited from ministry in 1992 after he was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl 1985-1986, while assigned to Nativity BVM Cathedral in Biloxi and St. John's in Gulfport. The Diocese had first received the report of abuse in 1989. Axton died 10/13/2020.
Fr. Vincent/Vincenzo D. Dilalla
Parish priest; Marianites of Holy Cross chaplain from 7/1/1983; adjunct assistant professor at Loyola University from 6/26/1984; assigned to a Pass Christian church 11/25/1988 until his death at age 40 in 11/1990. Publicly accused by the Biloxi diocese on its list 5/26/2022, which notes that it received a credible allegation 5/13/2021 that Dilalla sexually abused a 12-year-old boy in 1981 in Gulfport.
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Fr. Jose Morales Vazquez
From Mexico. Attended St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. Pastor from 1/15/2014 of St. Francis Xavier in Wiggins and St. Lucy Mission in Lucedale MS. Associate pastor 2009-2011 Immaculate Conception in Laurel and Sacred Heart in Hattiesburg 2011-2014. Arrested 9/9/2015 at the home of a 12-year-old boy whose father called police after walking in on Morales Vazquez engaged in a sex act with the boy. Charged with two counts of sexual battery against a minor. Admitted his behavior and to the abuse of other children. Pleaded guilty. Sentenced in 5/2016 to 10 years in prison and ordered deported upon his release. Included on the diocese's list 1/24/2019. Laicized.
Fr. Vincent The Quang Nguyen
Extern priest from the Archdiocese of Saigon, Vietnam. Worked in the Biloxi diocese 1986-1989. Named publicly as credibly accused by the Diocese on its list in 1/2019. Nguyen's ministry was prohibited in 1989 after the Diocese received reports that he had sexually abused adolescent girls.The girls' parents first reported the abuse to the police. Nguyen's name was added to the Richmond diocese's list 2/27/2019.
Fr. John M. Scanlon
Monsignor. Parish priest, pastor of a number of parishes, high school teacher and principal, superintendent of MS Catholic schools university chaplain. Accused in a 10/2019 lawsuit of molesting a 12-year-old boy in 1984-1985 at Sacred Heart Church in Hattiesburg. Scanlon died in 1995. The suit was dismissed due to the statute of limitations. The plaintiff appealed to the MS Supreme Court, which overturned the lower court's ruling in 6/2021, sending it back to the county.