Ex-New Mexico priest arrested on child rape charge (New Mexico)

The Santa Fe New Mexican ^ | February 8, 2019 | Steve Terrell

[CedarDave]

An 81-year-old former priest who the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office says raped a 6-year-old student at Holy Cross Catholic School in Santa Cruz during the mid-1980s was arrested Friday.

Marvin Archuleta has been the subject of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexually abusing minors, and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 2017 included him on a list it released naming priests, deacons and brothers who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

State law enforcement agents arrested Archuleta at an Albuquerque apartment complex based on a criminal complaint filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court charging him with criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13 and kidnapping.

The complaint says Archuleta was ordained in 1970 and served as a priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe from 1970-78 and from 1987-94.

The alleged crimes are said to have taken place prior to Dec. 31, 1987. The complaint says the victim, now in his late 30s, did not immediately report an incident he said occurred inside a room at Holy Cross Catholic Church and described in detail in court documents.

After agents served a search warrant on the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in November, investigators found a file containing sexual assault allegations against Archuleta.

“Prior accusers claimed Archuleta targeted them when they were altar boys at Holy Cross Parish in Santa Cruz,” Trujillo wrote. “The victims claimed Archuleta would touch the boys in their genital area and would request the boys touch his penis. One victim claimed these incidents happened while Archuleta was wearing his priest vestments while within a room at the church.”

[CedarDave]

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[PGR88]

Matthew 18:6

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Sounds reasonable to me.

[BipolarBob]

If I’m on the jury I vote in favor of the large millstone treatment.

[Veto!]

If guilty, Off With His Head.

[DAC21]

Did he find his victims at the boarder?

[CedarDave]

I should have posted the ABQ Journal article. It is very graphic in what the man did to one boy, a 6-year child. I'll quote and link form that article:

According to the complaint, the rape occurred in 1986 or 1987. The victim and two other boys were pulled out of class at Holy Cross Catholic School by older students who the victim believed to be altar boys, the complaint alleges.

Agents say the three were led to a room where Archuleta and another priest, who is not identified in the complaint, offered them cookies and punch.

The victim told agents the boys ate the treats before the unnamed priest took the other two away and left him alone with Archuleta.

The complaint alleges that Archuleta then made the boy kneel on a chair, removed the boy’s pants and wrapped a belt around his chest so he couldn’t move. According to the complaint, Archuleta poured a cup of water down the boy’s back, telling him it was “holy water and would help with the pain.” The victim told agents that Archuleta then raped him as he repeated, “This is God’s love; this is how we show God’s love.”

“He was in tremendous pain and was crying violently,” an agent wrote. “He is unsure how long the encounter lasted.”

Agents say that after the ordeal, the unnamed priest brought the other two boys, who were “crying uncontrollably,” into the room and all three were sent back to class.

Ex-NM priest charged with raping child

[Steely Tom]

I wonder if we’ll see one of those instant-onset Alzheimer cases again, when he’s interviewed on camera.

[CedarDave]

If guilty, Off With His Head.

The fact that a priest did this to a six-year old child but that it took 30+ years for it to come out, staggers me. That a child that age didn't tell his parents is amazing. If he did and the father took a shotgun to the priest, I'm sure no NM jury would convict him.

[CaliforniaCraftBeer]

related:
NM Implicated, Accused & Charged Priests:
https://bit.ly/2GyzNFK

[know.your.why]

I’m certain that the Catholic church sent him to the ‘priest re-education” place thats along SR14 near Los Cerrios...south of Santa Fe.

[married21]

That’s a level of evil I can hardly fathom. The Devil owns that man. I hope those boys healed somehow. If they lost their faith because of him, there will be Hell to pay.

[kearnyirish2]

There have been even more disgusting stories in the news; these monsters have destroyed the faith of a lot of people - especially in recent years as these details emerge.

[Seaplaner]

That a child that age didn't tell his parents is amazing.

No, my friend, it is not at all amazing. Sadly, it is typical, and it is the human case (upon which the pervs rely).

[Jaded]

Is this a death penalty offense? It should be. 0.70 USD would solve this problem.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

Hang ‘em all publicly at the same time from the same scaffold.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

There have been even more disgusting stories in the news; these monsters have destroyed the faith of a lot of people - especially in recent years as these details emerge.
..................................

More rotten fruit, courtesy of the Second Vatican Council.

[kearnyirish2]

While the Council didn’t help, plenty of these cases pre-date it. It certainly got worse as the grip of the Lavender Mafia tightened after the Council...