{"id":235956,"date":"2026-04-05T11:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/235956\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T11:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:21:07","slug":"priest-accused-of-coercing-congregants-for-sex-in-texas-could-have-single-trial-for-charges-from-three-separate-accusers-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/235956\/","title":{"rendered":"Priest accused of coercing congregants for sex in Texas could have single trial for charges from three separate accusers | Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Roman Catholic priest with ties to Texas<\/a> and south-east Louisiana<\/a> and criminally charged<\/a> with abusing his position as a clergyman to pursue sex with three spiritually vulnerable female congregants faces being taken to trial on all of those cases at once.<\/p>\n

The Texas<\/a> district attorney\u2019s office prosecuting Anthony Odiong filed a motion seeking to consolidate the three cases in late March, ahead of a trial date that the Guardian understands has tentatively been set for 4 May. Prepared by McLennan county first assistant district attorney Ryan Calvert, the motion notes that Texas state law allows \u201ca defendant [to] be prosecuted in a single criminal action\u201d if the crimes alleged \u201care connected or \u2026 are the repeated commission of the same or similar offenses\u201d.<\/p>\n

And Calvert\u2019s motion maintains that each of the three cases pending against Odiong involves his \u201cexploiting his parishioners\u2019 emotional dependency upon him as a spiritual adviser and engaging in sexual conduct with them\u201d, conduct which Texas law classifies as a felony.<\/p>\n

Odiong can object to Calvert\u2019s motion in favor of being tried on each case individually. His defense attorney, Gerald Villarrial, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Calvert\u2019s three-page motion marked the latest substantial turn in a high-stakes prosecution that authorities in the community of Waco, Texas, undertook after the Guardian in February 2024 published a report<\/a> on women who accused Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and abusive financial control while on the clock as a Catholic priest.<\/p>\n

The defendant ultimately was charged with five counts of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second-degree stemming from encounters with three women. He could receive a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted of any of the first-degree charges.<\/p>\n

Investigators ultimately identified a total of 10 women whom Odiong is suspected of preying on after meeting them through his ministry in Texas as well as the Louisiana region including suburban New Orleans<\/a>. The cases of many of those women \u2013 including the ones from Louisiana \u2013 did not result in criminal charges.<\/p>\n

But the sheer number of accusers that came forward against Odiong meant Texas prosecutors could legally pursue him without consideration for how long ago some of the alleged crimes purportedly occurred. And some of the accusers whose allegations did not lead to criminal charges against Odiong can be called to testify in support of the three women whose cases Calvert\u2019s office wants to try all at once.<\/p>\n

Odiong\u2019s tentative trial date looms as the worldwide Catholic church for years has debated whether to expand the definition of a vulnerable adult in the context of clergy abuse to include adults under the spiritual authority of priests who then target them for sexual contact.<\/p>\n

At present, the Catholic church considers a vulnerable adult to be anyone who is older than 18 and has \u201csevere intellectual developmental or psychological disabilities\u201d. Modern Vatican policy clearly defines sexual misconduct with children or vulnerable adults.<\/p>\n

Leo XIV became history\u2019s first US-born pope months after McLennan filed formal charges against Odiong.<\/p>\n

Odiong is one of several men who have worked as Catholic clergymen in the New Orleans area to have been arrested by authorities in connection with allegations of sexual abuse both before and after the city\u2019s archdiocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection in 2020.<\/p>\n

The New Orleans archdiocese and its insurers have since agreed to pay $305m collectively to settle with hundreds of clergy abuse survivors who became part of the bankruptcy case.<\/p>\n

Odiong in December 2024 declined<\/a> an offer to plead guilty to the criminal charges against him in exchange for the chance to get parole after accruing 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

A month prior to that, there had been a preliminary court hearing during which it was revealed<\/a> that Odiong had violated Catholic priests\u2019 promise to practice sexual celibacy by fathering at least two children with women whom he had met through his work as a clergyman.<\/p>\n

While there is no indication that any of the three women at the center of the charges against Odiong are the mothers of his children, authorities consider the priest\u2019s offspring living proof that he had a pattern of pursuing women he met through his work.<\/p>\n

Before he was charged, Odiong published an open letter on social media dismissing the claims made against him in the Guardian\u2019s reporting as a \u201cfalse, salacious, one-sided smear campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Roman Catholic priest with ties to Texas and south-east Louisiana and criminally charged with abusing his position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-235956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}