Priest Accused of Sex Abuse Gets Church Loan for Lawyer

KATU
August 17, 2012

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Woodburn-priest-accused-of-sex-abuse-hires-prominent-lawyer-166567606.html

The Woodburn priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy now has a prominent lawyer in his corner.

Angel Perez has hired attorney Marc Blackman and the Archdiocese of Portland has made him an open-ended loan to pay for the legal fees according to The Oregonian.

Perez was arrested earlier this week after a 12-year-old boy told police that Perez had fondled him.

According to the paper, the archdiocese has not had a priest arrested on sex abuse charges since the early 1980s, when another reverend was arrested and convicted.



A spokesman for the archdiocese wasn't able to tell the Oregonian if legal funds or loans had been provided in that case.

Blackman has handled some very high profile cases in the past, including defending Dr. Jayant Patel against charges in a medical deaths case and anesthesiologist David Burleson, who was sentenced in December 2008 to prison for sexually molesting a woman while she was sedated.

Blackman also defended Andrew Wiederhorn, who went to prison in 2004 for his role in the Capital Consultants ‘Fog Cutter’ scandal.