KTLA
November 19, 2007
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-churchsex,0,3677702.story?coll=ktla-news-2
A defrocked Roman Catholic priest will be in court Nov. 30 to answer charges he molested two boys a decade ago, some 8 years after he admitted to then-Bishop Roger Mahony that he had molested children, it was reported today.
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Michael Stephen Baker is charged with molesting boys at St. Hillary Church in Pico Rivera during the 1990s, and remains jailed with an $800,000 bail.
One of the priest's victims, now a La Mirada resident, revealed the sexual abuse to his parents after he bumped into his former sexual tormenter in a county jail. His parents told the San Gabriel Valley News that their son started drinking and committing crimes as a result of mental anguish caused by being abused by his priest.
Earlier this year, the Diocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to settle claims filed by about 500 molestation victims. Sheriff's deputies say Baker may have sexually abused as many as 28 little boys.
Baker's pending court appearance might rekindle controversy over the church's handling of sexually-deviant priests under Mahony's reign in the 1980s and 1990s.
Baker was ordained in 1974, and Mahony transferred him away from children and into a now-defunct therapy program in New Mexico in 1986. Following Baker's return to California, the string of sex abuse continued, the newspaper reported.
Church spokesman Todd Tamberg told the Valley News that "the cardinal admits that he mistakes with Michael Baker," the priest known to parishioners as "Father Mike" and the trusted figure who took little boys to McDonald's and other outings to win their trust.
"Looking back in hindsight, the cardinal was naive," Tamberg said. "He thought at the time something like this could be treated with psychotherapy."
The church spokesman told the newspaper that the defrocked priest was "the worst kind of child molester" and had lied to the then-bishop about supposedly complying with church strictures than banned him from contacting kids.
Frank Zamorra, 62, or La Mirada, said his son was one of the boys molested by "Father Mike." Zamorra told the paper he spotted the defrocked priest while the former altar boy was in jail for unpaid traffic tickets.
"My son wants to see him wearing ankle bracelets, register as a sex offender and get jail time," Zamorra told the Valley News. "He said, 'the longer he is in jail, the longer kids will be safe.'
"He ruined so many lives," Zamorra said.
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