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91-Year-Old Retired Catholic Priest Indicted on Rape and Kidnapping Charges From the 1970s

FILE - This Dec. 1, 2012 file photo shows a silhouette of a crucifix and a stained glass window inside a Catholic Church in New Orleans. On Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, a Louisiana state grand jury charged a now-91-year-old disgraced priest, Lawrence Hecker, with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 1975, an extraordinary prosecution that could shed new light on what Roman Catholic Church leaders knew about a child sex abuse crisis that persisted for decades and claimed hundreds of victims. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Retired 91-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker was indicted by a New Orleans grand jury Thursday and charges including rape, theft, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated crimes against nature, prosecutors announced
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Overview

  • Retired Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker was indicted on charges of rape, kidnapping, and other crimes for allegedly assaulting a teenage boy five decades ago.
  • Hecker admitted to sexually molesting and sharing beds with multiple teenagers when he was a priest, but the church only named him as an abuser in 2018.
  • Hecker allegedly choked a child unconscious after pretending to show him a wrestling move before the assault.
  • The Catholic Church has faced lawsuits and controversy over sexual abuse allegations going back to a 2002 Boston Globe report.
  • The Vatican has acknowledged damage to its credibility and called for accountability and justice for victims.