The Dallas Police Department executed a warrant Wednesday at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas to search for documentation and data as part of an investigation into child sex abuse allegations. The raid was part of an effort to secure information about priests suspected of having committed sexual abuse. One of the priests named as a person of interest by Dallas police served at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Rockwall, however, it is not publicly known whether the incident that police are investigating occurred in Rockwall or elsewhere.
Bishop Edward J. Burns says the diocese has been cooperating during the investigation.
Dallas police received information last August regarding sexual abuse allegations against a former priest, Edmundo Paredes. When the police served an arrest warrant for Paredes, that produced additional allegations of child abuse involving other suspects, Maj. Max Geron told reporters Wednesday.
As a result, investigators are seeking evidence. The diocese says those suspects are former priests.
Former Rockwall Priest Named
According to an affidavit, investigators are looking for details on four men, in addition to Paredes:
Richard Thomas Brown, 77
Alejandro Buitrago, 77
William Joseph Hughes Jr., 63
Jeremy Myers, 62
Brown is the only one of the aforenamed priests with an assignment history that includes Northeast Texas. Brown’s assignment history includes Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Rockwall, four other Diocese of Dallas parishes, and an unspecified hospital/hospice chaplaincy. Brown is listed as absent on leave, according to a public Diocese of Dallas record. Born in 1941, Brown was ordained in 1980. The list described Brown as having been “removed” in 2002.
Dallas PD Raids Diocese of Dallas main office, storage space, Oak Cliff parish
Police Detective David Clark in an affidavit supporting the search warrants described a diocese that wasn't forthcoming with critical files and relied on personnel to identify predatory behavior when they had no background or training to do so.
Burns says the diocese has been transparent.
"We recognize that throughout our collaboration with police, there are some who are not satisfied and want to look for themselves. We know we have given them the files and so we say, ‘By all means, look,'" Burns said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "And indeed, if today's event is what gives them the opportunity to look for themselves, then so be it."
Police executed searches at three locations: the Dallas Catholic Diocese headquarters, north of downtown; a storage facility in southwest Dallas; and Saint Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, where Paredes was pastor for 27 years until mid-2017.
Paredes, 70, has been missing since sex abuse allegations against him were made public by the diocese in August.
The investigation
The Dallas police department's child exploitation department has spent several months conducting interviews and meeting with the diocese and its attorneys, Geron said at the police press conference.
When asked if the diocese was cooperating, Geron said "there have been varying degrees of cooperation."
"We believe at this point that the execution of the warrants was wholly appropriate for the furtherance of the investigation," he said.
In the affidavit, Clark wrote that he was given incomplete and inaccurate files, despite "assurances" to the contrary from priests and church lawyers. The detective said his efforts to obtain records that likely contained information on the alleged sexual abuse of children "were thwarted."
Clark also wrote that investigators in a meeting with diocesan attorneys in January requested the number of priests' files that were flagged for sexual abuse. But the attorneys wouldn't provide the number, arguing that it was "privileged" information.
Burns said a retired FBI agent who the diocese brought in to review its files told him the affidavit and search warrants were rife with errors.
In a statement, the diocese said it hadn't received a subpoena and that its involvement in the investigation "has been voluntary."
"The diocese will continue to cooperate in all investigations of sexual abuse of a minor by clergy," the statement says.
Dallas police are investigating each allegation individually, "independent of any other entity," to give each victim a voice within the legal system, Geron said.
Geron said the department thanks those who came forward and encourages others with information to contact the Child Exploitation squad at 214-671-4211.
Geron would not comment on the number of victims related to the allegations. He also wouldn't comment on how far back the offenses go.
All five were named in a report released in January by the Dallas diocese that identified 31 former clergy credibly accused of sexually assaulting a child.
Paredes is suspended from the diocese; the other four are suspended, on leave, retired or removed from the ministry.
The list of names
Wednesday’s developments follow the release of lists in January by Roman Catholic dioceses across Texas – lists of priests and laity accused of sexual abuse since 1950. It was done with the goal of restoring trust to a Catholic Church that has been rocked for years, in Texas and around the world, by allegations of sexual misconduct and cover-ups.
"These have been very difficult days within the Church and the Diocese of Dallas," Burns said in a letter to the diocese at the time. "As we look back at the Church’s history, our failure to protect our most vulnerable from abuse, and hold accountable those who preyed on them, fills me with both sorrow and shame. ... I pledge to you that we will do our best to do what is right."
The bishop tasked a team of former law enforcement officers to review files of more than 2,400 clergy members who have served in the diocese. The 31 priests who were named by the Dallas diocese faced allegations of sexual abuse of a minor determined to be credible.
Regarding the investigation that led to Wednesday's raids, Burns said: "I really don’t know of any other organization or institution that has been as transparent as we have, when looking at 2,424 files since 1950."
Burns said when he came to the diocese two years ago, he wanted to make sure that "the priests who are assigned are suitable and fit."
"Now, collectively, with all the dioceses in the state of Texas, we have released our names," he said. "We then produced a list of 31 priests since 1950 – 70 years ago – who have allegations that are credible. We've produced them."
Seventeen of the 31 on the Dallas list have died, and several who are still living were suspended or defrocked. Five have been prosecuted. One priest – Rudy Kos – is incarcerated.
Just last week, Pope Francis issued new rules requiring priests and nuns to report incidents of abuse or cover-ups to church authorities. The new regulations are Francis' latest effort to combat sexual abuse involving the church. They take effect June 1.
Bonham, Clarksville, Greenville priests also named on January list
In addition to Brown, the list included four other priests who had served at various times in Northeast Texas: Michael Barone, who served in Paris and Clarksville; Patrick Lynch, who served in Greenville; Jose Saldana, who served in Bonham; and Raymond (John) Scott, who served in Greenville. According to the list, Barone is retired, Lynch and Scott are deceased, and Saldana is in the process of being removed from clergy.
Significantly, the list did not specify where the incidents in question occurred. Most men whose names were listed served at several different parishes and other pastoral assignments during their careers.
All Roman Catholic dioceses in Texas published similar lists in January, except for the Diocese of Fort Worth, which published a similar list in 2005 and continues to maintain it. In total, there were 286 names of priests and others accused of sexually abusing children. Church officials emphasized that those named were the subject of accusations deemed credible by the church itself, and were not necessarily indicative of culpability in the legal system.
List provides basic data, few details
None of the accused men’s pastoral assignment histories presented in the Diocese of Dallas’ list provide the dates of service at the various assignments.
A diocese is the basic organizational jurisdiction in the Roman Catholic Church. Each diocese is governed by a bishop. There are 15 Roman Catholic dioceses in Texas. All of Northeast Texas was within the Diocese of Dallas until 1987, when the new Diocese of Tyler was created from the eastern counties of the Diocese of Dallas as well as counties from two other existing dioceses to the south. Fannin, Hunt, Kaufman and Rockwall counties are among those counties that remained in the Diocese of Dallas. Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Rains and Van Zandt are among the counties that were included in the new Diocese of Tyler.
The Diocese of Tyler released three names during January’s disclosures: Barone; Gustavo de Jesus Cuello, who served in Tyler; and John Flynn, who served in Longview.
Barone: Our Lady of Victory in Paris and St. Joseph in Clarksville
Barone is listed as retired. Born in 1947, Barone was ordained in 1975. The list describes Barone has having retired from the Diocese of Tyler in 2017 and “removed” from the Diocese of Dallas in 2018. Barone’s assignment history includes Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Paris, St. Joseph Catholic Mission in Clarksville, eight other Diocese of Dallas parishes, and Southern Methodist University’s Catholic Center.
Lynch, Scott: St. William in Greenville
Lynch was born in 1934 and died in 2014. He was ordained in 1959 and retired in 1995. Lynch’s assignment history includes St. William Catholic Church in Greenville, 11 other Diocese of Dallas parishes, and a chaplaincy at the Hensley Field U.S. Naval Air Station in Dallas.
Raymond (John) Scott was born in 1923 and died in 2012. He was ordained in 1948 and retired in 200. Scott's assignment history also in includes St. William Catholic Church in Greenville, as well as seven other Diocese of Dallas parishes.
Saldana: St. Elizabeth in Bonham
Saldana is in the process of laicization, or being removed from the status of clergy and returning to the laity. Born in 1951, Saldana was ordained in 1978. He was removed in 1998. Saldana’s assignment history includes St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Bonham, 11 other parishes in Texas, a parish in upstate New York, two North Texas ministries, and a U.S. Air Force chaplaincy.
SNAP response
SNAP -- or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- issued a statement Wednesday.
"We are glad that police and prosecutors are taking the issue of clergy abuse in Texas seriously and are not just relying on the promises of church officials," it said in part. "As we have seen in places like Buffalo, Pennsylvania and Illinois, catholic dioceses have not consistently been forthright in disclosing full lists of credibly accused priests, nor providing information about the church officials who covered up their crimes."
Paul Petersen is with the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of SNAP.
"If there was full transparency from the diocese like they themselves suggest, there wouldn't be a box truck on the back end of the loading dock at the diocese,” he said.
Petersen, who is an abuse survivor, says days like Wednesday are painful.
"When stuff like this happens, it is exhausting,” he said. “It does re-traumatize; it does re-victimize."
KERA's Christy Robinson, Courtney Collins, Bill Zeeble, Stella M. Chávez and Eric Aasen; KETR's Mark Haslett; and the Associated Press all contributed to this report.