Charges Dropped against One Santeria Priest in Hope Cemetery Grave Robberies

By Lindsay Corcoran
MassLive
June 9, 2016

http://www.masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2016/06/charges_dropped_against_one_ma.html

Charges have been dropped against one of two former Santeria priests suspected of involvement in the theft of eight skeletons from Hope Cemetery in Worcester last year.

Felix Delgado, 40, of 518 Hallett St., Bridgeport, will no longer face charges of disinterment of a body after authorities say the bones found in his apartment were determined not to match those missing from Worcester.

A joint investigation by Massachusetts and Connecticut authorities found the human remains discovered in Delgado's Bridgeport apartment in February are not consistent with the remains stolen from Hope Cemetery in Worcester, according to Tim Connolly, spokesperson for the Worcester County district attorney's office.

Two mausoleums were broken into inside the Worcester cemetery and a total of nine graves were disturbed in the fall of 2015. Initially, police discovered five skeletons missing from the Houghton-family mausoleum, but later discovered a second mausoleum had been disturbed and three skeletons stolen.

Last December, another Connecticut man, Amador Medina, 32, of Hartford, was arrested.

Delgado was arrested in Connecticut at the beginning of February on a fugitive from justice warrant. Authorities found skulls and bones inside his apartment.

Although Delgado will not be charged in the Worcester offenses, the investigation remains ongoing and a referral was made to Connecticut for prosecution in their jurisdiction.

Delgado's charges in Worcester District Court were officially dismissed on Wednesday. He had been held on $100,000 cash bail after his arraignment in February.

Contact: lindsay.corcoran@masslive.com