Rafael Venegas, St. Anne's Santa Monica Priest, Investigated for Sex Crime

By Dennis Romero
LA Weekly
July 26, 2012

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/07/rafael_venegas_st_annes_church_santa_monica_sex_crime_investigation.php

Santa Monica police today said they're checking out a local priest after a woman came forward and alleged he sexually assaulted her.

If so (and, for the record, it ain't so, at least not yet), it wouldn't be too surprising. Church and the Tiki theater in Hollywood, apparently, are where all the sex crimes go down these days.

The man of the cloth under scrutiny was named as Rafael Venegas. He works at ...

... St. Anne's Church, 2017 Colorado Ave.

On July 1, the victim contacted cops to tell them the priest allegedly committed sexual battery on her at the church in September. She was an adult at the time (and female -- unusual for this sort of thing), according to Santa Monica police.

The woman is not a parishioner there, cops said.

Venegas has not been arrested. Here's the thing. Detectives are sniffing this out. They want anyone who might have similar allegations to call police at 310-458-8495.