Criminal law, Religion

Texas Priest Alleged to Have Sought Hit Man to Kill Teen Boy Who Accused Him of Sexual Abuse

John Fiala, a 52-year-old Roman Catholic priest, has been charged with soliciting a hit man to kill a teenager who had accused him of sexual abuse. Fiala, who was arrested on November 18th, is being held on $700,000 bond.

Earlier this year, the priest was named in a lawsuit brought by the teen’s family. The boy’s parents accused the priest of sexually abusing their son—and of forcing the young man to have sex with him twice at gunpoint.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place in 2007 and 2008 when Fiala was a priest at the Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in Rocksprings, Texas.

Fiala allegedly first offered the hit job to one of his neighbors. The neighbor informed the police who sent an undercover officer to meet with the clergyman. Authorities said that Fiala “got as far as negotiating a $5,000 price” for killing the teen.

Sources:

Miami Herald
Boston Globe

– Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

23 thoughts on “Texas Priest Alleged to Have Sought Hit Man to Kill Teen Boy Who Accused Him of Sexual Abuse”

  2. pete Almost half the state is latino. The rest of the catholics are yankees that moved in.

  4. “Most sexual abuse occurs in families.”

    You may well be right about this, so I won’t dispute the statement.

    But for all the sex abusing clergy throughout history – as aptly pointed out by Frank – No profession in modern American society generates a greater volume of this criminality than physicians. As detectives like to say, they have the means, the motive, the opportunity, that few other occupations can offer. And they know it. In fact, there is evidence that it attracts many pre-med students for just this reason.

    When we began our research years ago, we had a vague, fairly certain notion that clergymen would lead this predator pack of social misfits. Boy, were we wrong.

    The National Practitioner Data Bank holds files on just over 9,100 cases of sex crimes by doctors – over the last 21 years.

    Of course, when it comes to priests, at least they aren’t billing you for the attention.

  5. Swarthmore Mom writes:

    Most sexual abuse occurs in families.

    Actually, we don’t know. So many of these offenses go unreported, there is no way to tabulate any statistics. That is the scary part.

  6. The young mans life is now in tatters,and all I can say about the priest trying to hire a hitman,people are watching too much television.

  8. frank I am not defending the catholic church but no institution seemed to care about sexual abuse. I started to hear stories about it in the eighties. There was even a “Miss Anerica” who came out about her sexual abuse. For awhile it went so far that some therapists were forcing patients to recover sexual abuse that never happened. That seems to have faded and hopefully we are on the right track now. We need to heal those that suffered and make the abusers accountable. Most sexual abuse occurs in families.

  9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ1_aQz6IuU

    As far back as the Council of Elvira in 309 C.E., official documents reveal a Church preoccupied with the sex lives of its clergy. It involved clerical behavior that was not just immoral, but reprehensible and criminal.

    Regardless of how objectionable and criminal the sexual abuse of children was regarded, it has been a recurring and widespread problem for the Catholic clergy for nearly two thousand years. The Church has for a long time engaged in a conspiracy to deny the existence of sexual abuse and to provide cover for its perpetrators.

    The rape and sodomy of children is woven into clerical history with ample records in church documents and literature.

  10. The “torture” remark was directed at Buddha….

    Swarthmore mom,

    Very well said — all of it — but especially: “The sickness lies in the secrecy.”

    I’ve worked with many sexual assault victims, in various capacities. One of them drank anti-freeze to try to kill herself; and self-mutilation/”cutting” is another manifestation, as I’m sure you know. I once worked in a facility where a woman hung herself on what was to have been her day of discharge. She was on 5″ checks, but it was plenty of time. These are just a few of the tragic endings…

  12. anon nurse: I am guessing the priests and others have been doing this for centuries. Actually we know they have. Their victims were too afraid to turn them in, but now they are not afraid to try to get them prosecuted. Sexual abuse victims often kill themselves or go insane. At least now they can find people that will listen to them and they can get help. Bring the priest stories out of the closet so every young person that is approached by a sexual abuser will know that this is wrong. The sickness lies in the secrecy.

  14. “So much for the Orthodox Church competition! The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Damn it.” – The Pope (channeled through Buddha)

    Buddha

    Though I’m not looking forward to tales of future abuse (and worse), it’s nice to see another iteration of “the competition” quote and will look forward to more. Yes, to the “love and compassion” line, too. (Could I have the recipe for that pudding… 🙂 )

    There’s way too much craziness/pathology out there…

  15. “So much for the Orthodox Church competition! The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Damn it.” – The Pope

    You know, I’ve read the Bible and I don’t recall ever reading anything along the lines of “Nothing says love and compassion like sodomy at gunpoint.”

  16. rafflaw,

    “A priest alleged to have been diddling with a young boy at gunpoint, in Texas?”

    What a picture that just set in my mind!

  18. And the beat goes on it seems………..seems pointy hatted dude can reign in his own flock and keep em under control…its a sad commentary on the state of affairs eh…………

  19. This seems like a natural progression of criminal behavior … I wonder if others got away with it ….

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