MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi have arrested a Roman Catholic priest on suspicion of sexually abusing a minor, the second priest charged there in a week.
State investigative police say Friday’s arrest of Guillermo Gil Torres was based on a complaint from the boy’s grandmother, who said the child became noticeably sad and nervous and asked never to be sent to church.
The incidents started in November when Gil Torres, pastor of Santa Rosa de Lima church, invited the boy to look at photographs of his travels and allegedly began rubbing his legs, police said according to testimony from the family.
The Archdiocese of San Luis Potosi did not answer telephone calls or emails seeking comment on Saturday. Mexican media reported that Gil Torres had been suspended last month when the complaint was filed.
He was arrested while driving in the capital city, also called San Luis Potosi, where the church is located.
Earlier this week, a judge in the same state ordered the arrest of now-suspended Catholic priest Eduardo Cordova, who is also suspected of sexually abusing minors.
Cordova had recently served as the archdiocese’s legal representative. The state attorney general’s office said Wednesday that he is now considered a fugitive.
Nineteen people have filed a criminal complaint alleging that Cordova sexually abused them.
Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church announced last month that the Vatican had stripped Cordova of his clerical functions after investigations into allegations of the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old in 2012. Activists had posted a photo of Cordova on a billboard in San Luis Potosi reading, “Were you a victim? Report him.”
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