Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez will serve 10 years in prison on two charges of second-degree felony indecency with a child. The maximum penalty for the charge is 20 years in prison. Last month, La Rosa-Lopez took a plea deal for the charges connected to two victims, though, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said he committed crimes against a total of four identified victims.
They were ages 13 to 16 at the time of the abuse that went on from to The crimes were first reported to law enforcement in The victims reported that La Rosa-Lopez violated their trust in him as a priest by kissing them, exposing himself to them and touching them inappropriately on numerous occasions.
Law enforcement officers from Conroe police, the Texas Rangers and several federal agencies assisted in executing several search warrants to obtain a large amount of evidence and documents.
These search warrants included the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the Shalom Center , where La Rosa-Lopez was treated after one of the victims reported the abuse to the Archdiocese in Subsequently, La Rosa-Lopez was assigned to St. John Fisher Church in Richmond, Texas, where he was a priest until his arrest in In court Wednesday, everyone from the prosecutors to the investigators scolded the disgraced priest for violating the victims' trust.
He violated their trust in the worst way," said Conroe Police Det. Joe McGrew. The prosecutors, though, praised the victims for coming out and telling their stories. This was the day when they could finally be heard-truly heard.
