Ex-catholic Priest Faces Deportation after Conviction for Sex Assault on Davis Teen

By Cathy Locke
Sacramento Bee
March 20, 2015

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article15529541.html

A former Catholic priest from Mexico convicted last year of sexually assaulting an underage altar girl in his Davis parish now faces deportation.

Hector Coria-Gonzalez, 46, was taken into custody at his Davis residence early Friday morning by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations. He is being held without bond at Sacramento County’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center while his case is reviewed by the immigration court, according to a Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release.

Coria-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in Yolo County Superior Court in July 2014 to statutory rape for engaging in sexual acts with a 16-year-old girl who belonged to the St. James Parish in Davis, where he served as a priest.

At the time of his arrest in 2014, Coria-Gonzalez was in the United States lawfully, immigration authorities said. But when the Catholic Church stripped him of his priesthood following his conviction, it paved the way for ICE to seek his removal from the country.

Following Friday morning’s arrest, ICE filed paperwork placing Coria-Gonzalez in formal deportation proceedings, authorities said.

Call The Bee’s Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.