Long Beach Priest Pleads No Contest to Sexual Charges
By Sarah Bennett
A Long Beach priest arrested in July on sexual assault charges pleaded no contest Tuesday to three sex-related charges involving a 17 year-old girl and two women. Luis Jose Cuevas, 68, entered the plea to one felony count of committing a lewd act on a child and two misdemeanor sexual battery charges, according to Sandi Gibbons of the District Attorney's Office. Cuevas will be sententenced January 23 and faces lifetime registration as a sex offender, one year of sex offendor counseling, five years of formal probation and 40 hours of community service. The case began in April, when the Long Beach Police Department received information from the two adult victims, who say they initially reported the incidents to the Archdiocese. After an investigation, during which the 17 year-old victim came forward, the Long Beach Police Department presented the case to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, which subsequently filed charges. Court documents also show that there are 16 other sexual battery charges that can't be filed against the suspect because the statute of limitations has run out. The 67 year-old Cuevas was a parish priest of St. Athanasius Catholic Church and had lived on the grounds for the last seven years. He was arrested at a residence in San Jacinto by LBPD with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Office.
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