Archdiocese of New Orleans suspected of child sex trafficking, warrant shows – Catholic World Report

 By Tyler Arnold for CNA

The St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States, on April 9, 2020, in New Orleans. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police.

The affidavit requesting the search warrant, first obtained by the New Orleans-based WWL Radio, alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused children were instructed to provide “gifts” to certain priests, which were meant to signal that the children were targets for sexual abuse.

According to the allegations in the affidavit, multiple victims reported that they were brought to the New Orleans Seminary, where they were instructed to “swim naked in the pool and would be sexually assaulted or abused.” It also alleges that investigators found that this was “a common occurrence” and that other members of the archdiocese were present.

“Based on these findings, as well as the allegations of previous widespread child sexual abuse, it was determined that further investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans was necessary,” investigator Scott Rodrigue wrote in the affidavit.

Judge Juana Lombard granted police the search warrant last week, but the allegations in the warrant were not made public until Tuesday, April 30. It allows police to search personnel files, financial records, communications, and other documents related to allegations of sexual abuse.

The warrant acknowledges that the police have probable cause to suspect felony violations of the law that prohibits the “trafficking of children for a sexual purpose.”

Although the allegations contained in the warrant do not indicate when the alleged trafficking occurred, the information that led to a suspicion of sex trafficking was obtained by police during an earlier investigation into a retired priest named Lawrence Hecker, who is accused of raping an underage teenage boy in the 1970s. Hecker was indicted for the alleged crime but has not yet been tried.

The affidavit alleges that documents obtained during the Hecker investigation show that “previous archbishops … not only knew of the [widespread] sexual abuse and failed to report all the claims to law enforcement, but [also] spent archdiocese funding to support the accused.”

One document cited in the affidavit states that one specific archbishop “was aware of rampant sexual abuse throughout the archdiocese,” but the affidavit leaves out the archbishop’s name.

The affidavit alleges, without stating the exact time frame, that the archdiocese “disregarded” or “covered up” claims of widespread sexual abuse. It alleges that in many cases, abuse claims “were not reported to law enforcement.” In some instances, the archdiocese provided “monetary payments” to victims or their families “to dismiss the allegations,” according to the affidavit.

Investigators conducted “a large number of interviews” of individuals who allege widespread sexual abuse against children in the archdiocese, according to the affidavit. Interviews are still being conducted.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 amid financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the costs of litigation and settlements related to alleged sexual abuse.

CNA reached out to the archdiocese for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

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Child Trafficking in New Orleans/Port of New Orleans

I had the opportunity to travel last week with two ex novus ordos ' canceled ' priests who have converted to true Catholicism and now are sedevacantists. One of them invited us to have coffee at Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand and see the cathedral in that area of New Orleans. He had fond memories of staying with his parents in a luxury hotel nearby as a child. Unfortunately, I happened to see prostitutes on the street as we walked, in front of the cathedral there are several people reading palms and there are all kinds of homosexuals and gay flags everywhere.

Many people reverently greeted the priests who were dressed in cassocks; A young waitress who came out of a restaurant to smoke said that as soon as she saw them she hid her cigarette, but the saddest thing was that a man with a very beautiful child who had bright blue shorts that looked like they had come from the beach because of the casual way they dressed approached one of the priests who is now a sedevacant monsignor and asked him if he was a tourist guide? He replied that he was a Catholic priest, but the conversation was very strange, as the man seemed confused. The priest who is a native of New Orleans said that he was probably a child trafficker because he had looked at him in a way that he was selling the child. There were no police in that area. So I was shocked thinking about the impossibility of doing something for that child. I started praying for that child.

Add to this article McCarrick's photo and his accomplice, the alleged predator, corrupter of minors and homosexualist Jorge Bergoglio, because it is very likely that this man sold that same child to the apostate homosexual priests of that area and it did not seem strange to him to approach those two priests.

Then the next day one of the benefactors of the chapel told us that that area is very dangerous, we had gone at night because it had been raining and our trip to that place was delayed. Since I couldn't do anything and I don't know what we could have done, I thought of at least leaving this comment in writing because perhaps some parent who is looking for their child doesn't know that sometimes these traffickers don't take these children out of the United States but sell them in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and other cities. In the Las Vegas airport in the bathrooms there is only a phone number to ask for help, but there should be an alarm button so that children can use it to escape from these demoniac and depraved people.

Please if you read this article, I ask you to pray for that child and for all children who are victims of child trafficking.