Latin American Herald Tribune
February 15,2010
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=352362&CategoryId=14091
VERACRUZ, Mexico - A Catholic priest arrested last year for his alleged participation in a child-pornography ring operating via the Internet has been released due to lack of evidence in the case, church spokesmen said.
The Rev. Rafael Muniz Lopez, who was assigned to St. Peter Apostle Church in Xalapa, the capital of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, was released without charges Friday and left the Mexico City jail where he was being held.
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A criminal court judge in the Federal District ordered Muniz's immediate release "due to insufficient evidence" that the priest was involved in organized crime, Archdiocese of Xalapa public affairs office director Jose Juan Sanchez Jacome said.
The investigation that led to the priest's arrest began in March 2009, when Mexico City prosecutors discovered an e-mail containing images of sex acts involving minors.
The Federal District prosecutor's office arrested seven suspects on April 17, 2009.
Muniz and his brother, Francisco Javier, were identified as suspected members of the Internet child-pornography ring.
On a Web page link included in the e-mail investigators noted "scenes of explicit sex between adults and girls and boys from 0 to 10 years old," the prosecutor's office said at the time.
Police tracked the Web site to Luis Alejandro Vergara, at whose Mexico City home they found a large amount of child pornography.
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Vergara, who confessed to rape and sexual abuse, was an employee of Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretariat.
Information on Vergara's computer led police to six other individuals in five different Mexican states, including the Rev. Muniz and his brother.
Francisco Javier Muniz Lopez was released a few days after his arrest.
Five of the other suspects in the case are still being held by authorities.
Father Muņiz is happy to be free and to have proven his innocence, but the case took a tremendous physical, emotional and psychological toll, Sanchez Jacome said.
The church spokesman thanked the Catholic community and all those who believed in Father Muņiz's innocence, as well as local officials who provided legal assistance.
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