Mexican Sex Abuse Priest to Stand Trial
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mexican Sex Abuse Priest to Stand Trial*
The Associated Press
October 8, 2006; 10:47 PM
MEXICO CITY -- A judge in the central Mexico state of Puebla ordered a
Roman Catholic priest to stand trial in the rape of a 9-year-old boy in
1999, Mexican daily Reforma reported Saturday.
The judge, Emma Peralta, was not immediately available to confirm the
ruling issued Friday. About 50 parishioners gathered outside the court
building to support jailed priest Rafael Perez Sanchez, who was arrested
on Sept. 30 in the community of San Rafael Tlanalapan, where he officiated.
A person who answered the phone at the offices of the Archdiocese of
Puebla said no one was immediately available to comment on the charges.
Mexican law does not permit bail for those accused of serious crimes;
rape is punishable by prison terms of eight to 40 years.
Perez Sanchez, whose age was not given, is accused in the rape of a
minor at the priest's residence over the Christmas holidays in 1999.
The boy's mother and father were good friends with Perez, and as a
result, the minor initially was afraid to tell them what happened,
police said. He finally did in 2003, and his parents immediately filed a
complaint. A judge did not issue an arrest warrant until last year.
Perez's detention comes amid a similar scandal involving a second
Mexican priest from Puebla, the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar. A 25-year-old
Mexican man has accused Aguilar of raping him when he was a teenager in
1994. The priest also has been charged in California with 19 felony
counts of committing lewd acts on a child. He is still at large.
His alleged Mexican victim, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez, also filed a lawsuit
in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 19 accusing Mexican Roman
Catholic Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City and Los Angeles
Cardinal Roger Mahony of conspiring to protect the Rev. Aguilar. Both
cardinals have denied the accusations.