Saturday, April 14, 2018

The Accuser of Father Ray Cepeda

I wrote a post entitled The Case Against Raymond Cepeda on October 19, 2017.  The post was about the accuser whose initials are P.P.  He accused Father Ray Cepeda for sexually abusing him for 8 years from 1992-1999 at Santa Barbara Catholic Church.  

As many already know, Father Adrian has recently been accused of child sexual abuse and was told to return to Guam.  In his blog, Tim Rohr published a photo of Father Adrian and John Toves with the title, "The Moment That Started It All."  Rohr then goes on to cite a newspaper article dated October 18, 2017.  The accuser of Father Ray also accused Archbishop Apuron and Father Adrian for shunning him away and ignoring his plea for help.  So, what is Rohr implying in his post?  I certainly hope that he is not trying to take away Father Adrian's right to due process.  I certainly hope that he is not implying that the child sexual abuse allegation against Father Adrian is the reason why P.P.'s plea of help was ignored.    

According to the Pacific News Center:
But it doesn’t end there. The victim then sought help from respected authority figures within the Archdiocese, but, he claims, he never got the help he wanted. P.P. reported the abuse to now-deceased Msgr. Zoilo Camacho who told the victim to meet with Archbishop Anthony Apuron.
“During P.P.’s meeting with Apuron, Apuron told P.P. that ‘P.P. needs to pray about these types of evil in the world and that P.P. would get over it, if he prayed about it,” the complaint states.
The victim says he also reported the abuse to Father Adrian Cristobal, who at the time was the spiritual director, but according to the victim he was “shunned away.”
P.P. is seeking $5 million in damages.
Here is the problem with this accusation.  According to the alleged victim, P.P., he stated that he was sexually abused by Father Ray for 8 years from 1992-1999.  Now, here is what Tim Rohr did not know:  

According to Richard, Father Ray Cepeda: 

  1.  was the Associate Pastor in Dededo from 1979-1985
  2.  was Pastor of San Vicente in Barrigada from 1985-1987
  3.  was Rector of Agana C.B. from 1987-1994
  4.  was Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Yigo from 1994-1995
  5.  Was on Sabbatical in 1996
  6.  was Pastor of Santa Barbara in Dededo from 1997-2000

Many thanks to Richard, a friend of Father Ray for providing this vital information.  So, the question is.......how was P.P. sexually abused by Father Ray for 8 years from 1992-1999 at Santa Barbara when Father Ray was not at the Dededo parish until 1997?  This puts a huge dent into P.P.'s allegation. 


Furthermore, according to KUAM news dated April 23, 2010 (the bold is mine):
The Guam Catholic Church says abuse allegations against former priest Father Raymond Cepeda date back over five years. Deacon Jeff Barcinas, spokesman for Archbishop Anthony Apuron, tells KUAM News that only one victim that he knows of reported abuse by Fr. Cepeda and he says the victim was not a minor.
Barcinas says the process to laicize Cepeda took several years and required the consent of the Pope. Cepeda, a former priest at the Santa Barbara Church in Dededo, was officially removed from the clergy last December. 
"All I know from when the alleged incident was from when the incident was first reported to the Archbishop.  At that time the archbishop did take the necessary action to suspend that time Father Ray Cepeda from any ministry for whoever the victims; and whoever is affected would not be affected by his presence." 
The Archdiocese made a mistake when they laicized Father Ray for child sexual abuse because the victim was not a minor at all. The victim was an adult. That was the error, but P.P. and other accusers did not know that. This error was never corrected by the Archdiocese.  Nevertheless, people were coming out claiming child sexual abuse against someone who abused an adult..... for 5 million dollars.  

The bill, lifting the statutes of limitations, was introduced into legislation and pushed by the jungle into law.  Now you see what the jungle had done to the Church in Guam.     

8 comments:

  1. The accuser’s story is full of holes. It’s easy to see that the sexual abuse never happened. He was only after the money. Didn’t Rohr say that if he will go after those accusers who are only after the money?

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    Replies
    1. Dear Anonymous at 6:01 am,

      Yes, according to Rohr:

      “If all you want is money and you don't care about our real aim: GET RID OF APURON, then the same people who worked so hard to get you your law can quickly become the same people who will demand and work for a new law that will kill the one you think you have.”

      http://www.junglewatch.info/2017/03/its-about-gratitude-and-for-us.html#more

      However, as you can see in his post, he was more concern of getting rid of Archbishop Apuron. In fact, one of the accusers Rohr introduced was Walter Denton. Apparently, Rohr did not care that Denton changed his story. He was not even the least bit suspicious when about 100 accusers claimed to be swimming in the river and molested by Father Broullard. Some of those boys were not even members of the Boys Scouts of America or altar servers. Neverthess, all 100 of them did not tell their parents because they will not believe them. Never mind the 99 other witnesses who were with them in the river.


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  2. Damn Diana you got it right excuse my language

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  3. "People were coming out claiming child sexual abuse against someone who abused an adult..."

    Diana, are you serious? The guy is a criminal! How would an abuse of an adult exclude the same kind of abuse of children? It cannot. If you would try to make this argument at court, you would be ridiculed. Please, get real! Don't try to protect a convicted criminal who was defrocked by the Catholic church. This is impractical.

    The fact is that professional law firms specializing on sexual abuse in the Catholic church are more than eager to capitalize on the guilty verdict of Archbishop Apuron by the Vatican tribunal for their own benefit. The allegations are becoming credible at court, no matter what are the fact behind the accusations. Once the charges become credible, there is no efficient means to fight that at settlement! How do you think to make an impact to alleviate litigation?

    Speak up if you have a good plan, because this is the very quagmire plaguing the Guam Catholic Church right now and probably the next decade!

    ""It's an explosive fact when you've got the head of the archdiocese being credibly accused of abuse. It's just an absolutely explosive fact that I've never seen in other cases," Reich said."

    https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018/04/14/victims-give-more-details-instances-clergy-sex-abuses-during-church-interviews/513329002/

    Read this in PDN: Accusers give more details, instances of clergy sex abuses during church interviews

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Grow up,

      You stated: "How would an abuse of an adult exclude the same kind of abuse of children? It cannot. If you would try to make this argument at court, you would be ridiculed."

      I disagree. Human beings have certain boundaries that are very difficult to cross. Abusing and killing children are one of those boundaries unless one is a pedophile or a sick terrorist. That is why terrorists use children as soldiers and suicide bombers. Even the average criminal find it difficult to harm defenseless children.

      How do you find P.P.'s allegation credible When he claimed to be sexually abused for 8 years at Santa Barbara by a priest who was not in Santa Barbara until 1997.

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    2. Diana, it does not matter if I find the allegations credible or not. Actually, I do not have an opinion because I don't know the parties involved. The fact is that the credibility of the accusations is established at the court that you or I cannot influence anymore.

      What atty Reich is telling is very sobering. Just read the article. He does not care about Rohr or the NCW. He found the allegations credible and that's it! He is the expert. He indicates that the Vatican decision will have a serious impact on the litigation regarding acknowledgement of guilt/ wrongdoing and willingness of paying out large settlement awards.

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    3. Dear Grow up,

      The only ones who are going to benefit from these lawsuits or settlement are the lawyers.

      Delete
  4. Could this be true?
    http://www.e-consulta.com/nota/2018-04-16/sociedad/arquidiocesis-de-puebla-tendra-seminario-internacional-confirma

    A new RM Seminary in Mexico? Hallelujah for Mexico!!! ...and what a shame that Guam had to have a 'Tim Rohr' to antagonize and demonize the one of the very few institutions that are actually rescuing dioceses from the lack of priests in the world.

    When will Archbishop Byrnes understand the depth and breadth of his myopic vision for the future of Guam?

    ReplyDelete