A DISGRACED Catholic priest has been
charged with attempting to hire a hitman to murder a teenage boy who
accused him of sexual assault.
John Fiala, 52, was arrested in Texas after an undercover agent
posing as a contract killer was allegedly approached by the suspended
priest last week.
The priest had been removed from active ministry
in October 2008 after information was passed to the church by
law-enforcement officers, but he was not charged with sexual assault at
the time.
Earlier this year, the boy filed a series of lawsuits
claiming he was raped at gunpoint by Father Fiala, and accusing the
Catholic Church in Texas of covering up the priest's behaviour.
The
sheriff of Edwards County, Don Letsinger, said he was shocked the
priest had made such an apparently brazen attempt to silence his
accuser.
"I have to honestly say I didn't expect this," the sheriff said.
"I really was kind of surprised he would stick his neck out this
far, and talk to people he didn't even know about having someone
murdered."
Mr Letsinger told the San Antonio Express-News the
investigation began after a neighbour told the police he had been
solicited to commit the murder, "and he didn't want anything to do with
that".
Police said an undercover officer was subsequently offered
$US5000 to murder the teenager. Father Fiala was being held in a Dallas
County jail on one count of solicitation to commit murder and two of
aggravated sexual assault of a child, after a judge set bail at
$US700,000.
The boy's lawyer, Tom Rhodes, said his client was
relieved the priest was back in custody.
"Fiala had threatened him with
physical violence and threatened to kill him before, and he was very
afraid of that," Mr Rhodes said.
In April, Father Fiala was named
in a lawsuit filed by the boy's family, who accused him of twice forcing
the youth to have sex at gunpoint.
The abuse allegedly took place in
2007 and 2008, when Father Fiala was a priest in rural west Texas.
The
lawsuit also named the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose
Gomez, alleging the church leadership should have known the priest was
abusive.
SIC: TA/AUS