Friday, September 10, 2010

Priest gets 4 years for assaulting suburban boy

A Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting a young west suburban boy had his ordination delayed twice over concerns by Joliet diocesan officials that he had a sexually abusive childhood and viewed male pornography, prosecutors said in court.

Alejandro Flores, who had attempted suicide in January by jumping from a church choir loft amid growing allegations about his conduct, was sentenced by a Kane County judge to a four-year prison term.

Flores, 37, a native of Bolivia, started abusing the boy over a five-year period in 2005 after befriending members of his family, who were parishioners at St. Mary Catholic Church in West Chicago. Flores was posted there as a seminarian and deacon while working toward ordination.

Assistant State's Attorney Deb Bree said Flores' crimes took place during the time church officials were deciding whether to elevate him to the priesthood.

During an internship, Flores told his supervisor that as a child he had been the victim of sexual abuse at a Bolivian orphanage.

That supervisor, the Rev. Burke Masters, vocational director for the Joliet Diocese, saw Flores alone in a car with the victim in 2005 and told him it was not appropriate to be alone with young boys, according to authorities.

The Rev. William Dewan, who later supervised Flores at Holy Family Catholic Church in Shorewood, delayed Flores' ordination when Flores told him of being sexually abused in the orphanage.

Diocesan officials also later learned that Flores had viewed male pornography on a church-owned computer. The revelation again pushed back his ordination, Bree said, as Flores was sent for counseling.

Doug Delany, a Joliet Diocese spokesman, said that with hindsight, Flores would not have been ordained. But he said the delays were part of what he called "extraordinary caution" exercised by Bishop J. Peter Sartain before deciding to elevate Flores.

"We were told he was ready for the priesthood," Delany said.

Flores told the bishop that he had viewed pornography only once, Delany said. And Flores' sexual abuse as a child did not necessarily indicate that he was a pedophile, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Flores maintained a relationship with the victim, now 13, and his older brother, now 18.

The older boy told authorities that Flores asked him to engage in sex acts and that he rebuffed Flores, Bree said.

Flores was ordained in June 2009 and remained at Holy Family, but his actions were drawing the attention of a man dating the victim's mother. The boyfriend said he saw Flores and the boy "in a suspicious position" in Flores' parked car, and in November the boyfriend found the boy and Flores in the bedroom of the boy's St. Charles home, Bree said.

In January, the victim's mother alerted Joliet Diocese officials to her suspicions, and Sartain ordered Flores to move from Holy Family to a priest residence in Joliet. Two days later, Flores attempted suicide.

Sartain issued a statement Wednesday, saying in part, "Once again I express my deepest apologies to these young boys and their family for the suffering they are experiencing as a result of this abuse."

Flores likely faces deportation when his sentence ends.

SIC: CT/USA