BishopAccountability.org
 
  LA Prosecutors Get Molest Warrants for Two Ex-Priests, Seminarian

Associated Press State & Local Wire
March 26, 2003

Arrest warrants were issued for two former Roman Catholic priests and an ex-seminarian after prosecutors filed multiple counts of child molestation against them.

Lawrence Joseph Lovell, 55, the former youth pastor in charge of altar boys at San Gabriel Mission, was charged with 11 counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said in a statement. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Lovell, who now works for the Mental Health Center at the University of New Mexico, allegedly molested four boys between 1980 and 1984, according to prosecutors. He was previously convicted of child molestation in 1986 and removed from the ministry that same year.

A warrant was also issued Tuesday for Thomas Marshall, 74, who has been charged with 20 counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14. The alleged molestations occurred between 1959 and 1963 while Marshall was serving as a priest with St. Paul the Apostle Church in West Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.

The victims, who were 11 and 13 at the time the alleged molestations began, were altar boys, prosecutors said. Marshall, who is retired and living in Toronto, Canada, faces one year to life in prison if convicted on each count.

Former seminarian Amado Pena, 52, who is believed to be living in New Jersey, was charged with 18 counts of child molestation.

The alleged molestations of two 14-year-old altar boys occurred between 1980 and 1982 at Santa Teresita Church in Boyle Heights.

Pena left the seminary before becoming a priest, prosecutors said. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.