Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez has pleaded guilty to two counts in a case of sexual abuse against minors in the Houston, Texas area, for which he will face a 10-year prison sentence.
Montgomery County Chief Prosecutor Nancy Hebert explained in an interview with Noticias Telemundo that La Rosa-Lopez
admitted her guilt in an agreement with the prosecution to avoid a sentence that could have been up to 20 years
.
“We offered him to plead guilty to the two main charges, which were second-degree felonies: indecency with a minor,” Hebert said.
"In exchange for that admission, we are dismissing the other three allegations."
The crude story of a Latino abused by a priest as a child
Oct. 2, 201806: 16
The allegations involve two victims, identified in court documents under the pseudonyms John Doe and Jane Doe.
The two plaintiffs claim that
La Rosa-Lopez abused them in the late 1990s and early 2000s
at the Conroe church.
They are both US citizens.
He is a Latino man who now lives in Washington State and she is a woman who lives in Texas.
[The Vatican and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will pay financial compensation in the case of sexual abuse against a Latino pastor in Texas]
In those years, they were minors.
He was 17 years old and, of her, it only appears that she was a teenager when the events denounced took place.
There was another charge brought by an alleged third minor victim, which was dismissed as part of the settlement.
This would have been a felony for indecency with a minor, but in the third degree.
La Rosa-Lopez's sentencing will take place on December 16
.
[
A Latina victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest speaks
]
"It is not a long enough sentence, but at least you will be away from children while you are incarcerated and you will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of your life," said Tahira Merritt, attorney for John Doe and Jane Doe.
La Rosa-Lopez's attorney, Wendell Odom, said
it was not an easy decision for his client
.
“This is unfortunate.
It happened many years ago and he is just glad that he can close this chapter and move on, "said Odom.
The criminal process against this high-ranking Hispanic priest has also put the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, of which he was a member, one of the largest and most influential ecclesiastical provinces in the country, at the center of public attention.
In February 2020, the two aforementioned sexual abuse victims filed a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese and the Vatican for cover-up.
On that occasion, the Catholic Church agreed to pay compensation to the plaintiffs to avoid the judicial process.
They trusted their pastor
The events reported describe a similar behavior by La Rosa-Lopez towards the complainants:
she gained the trust of the families of the alleged victims and thus acceded to them.
In the case of John Doe, the pastor participated in family events and became a reference for the young man.
Later, that trust turned into "sexual abuse, assault and exploitation."
On one occasion, La Rosa-Lopez prevented the young man from leaving the rectory and sexually assaulted him, the document details.
In the case of the female victim, Jane Doe, the pastor was her confessor.
The young woman described in a diary how the father touched her private parts inside the Church of the Sacred Heart, after a theater performance,
The Passion of the Christ
.
The applicant claims that she believed she was in a loving relationship with the priest.
[They sue the Vatican in the case of sexual abuse of a Hispanic pastor]
The young woman's father discovered her diary, in which he described his secret encounters with La Rosa-Lopez and, alarmed, notified the superiors of the parish.
Soon after, the family learned that La Rosa-Lopez had been transferred to another parish and years later, in 2010, they discovered that the priest had been promoted to a larger parish in Richmond, Texas.
The young woman, now an adult, went to meet with the head of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, to ask for an explanation.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston;
in a June 11, 2019 file photo.
DiNardo, according to the plaintiff, told her that
La Rosa-Lopez had been sent to a mental institution
and consequently assigned an administrative position where he would not have contact with minors.
Over the next eight years, La Rosa-Lopez worked his way up the ranks of the archdiocese until DiNardo entrusted him with the position of Episcopal Vicar for Hispanics.
In 2018, the case explodes.
The two alleged victims and a third decide to sue the priest in court for sexual abuse and the police issue an arrest warrant containing the facts described by the applicant.
That same week,
DiNardo was in Rome to discuss with Pope Francis the scandal of child abuse in the Catholic Church
.
[The priest who left a trail of pregnant victims]
Whats Next?
Following investigations by the Montgomery County, Texas prosecutor's office in the case against La Rosa-Lopez, new avenues for prosecution have been possible against the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
"We have compiled a list of possible victims and perpetrators, based on the documents we seized [from the archdiocesan offices]," said prosecutor Hebert.
But he clarified that these are cases that are outside the jurisdiction of Montgomery County.
For this reason, Hebert said he has sent the list along with the relevant files to the Texas attorney general's office, so that it can initiate its own investigations or turn them over to the appropriate authorities.
Noticias Telemundo Investiga journalist, Belisa Morillo, contributed to this report from Miami, Florida
.
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