March 12, 2006

Priest convicted of sex abuse won't return to Santa Fe

NEW MEXICO
New Mexican

By ERIKA DÁVILA | The New Mexican
March 12, 2006

A former Santa Fe priest serving a 10-year sentence in California for child molestation will never be allowed to return to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, church officials said.

José Superiaso was a priest at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi until June 2003, when he was arrested in Northern California on child-molestation charges. He has admitted to having a sexual relationship with a girl he baby-sat in 1994 and 1995 while he was a priest at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Daly City, Calif.

Superiaso pleaded guilty last June to six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14, said Sharon Henry, the district attorney for San Mateo County who prosecuted the case. Superiaso was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is serving his time in the Salinas Valley State Prison in Salinas, Calif. He will be eligible for parole at the end of 2013.

Posted by kshaw at March 12, 2006 07:51 PM