Priest convicted of sex crime in San Diego resurfaces in Oklahoma

CALIFORNIA/OKLAHOMA
CBS 8

[with video]

By Abbie Alford, Reporter

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – A convicted San Diego priest who pleaded guilty to fondling a teenage girl in 2011 is now serving in parishes in Oklahoma City.

Father Jose Alexis DaVila admitted to abusing a 19-year-old woman and now he is involved with three churches. It’s a move that is being called both stunning and hurtful.

Blessed Sacrament’s website in Lawton Oklahoma says as of March 29, Father Jose Alexis DaVila left to serve the following parishes in Oklahoma: Saint Ann Church, Elgin and Missions, Mother of Sorrows Church in Apache, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Sterling.

When the church welcomed DaVila in December, it made no mention the priest served in San Diego. DaVila was an associate pastor from Saint Jude’s Shrine of the West in Southcrest.

David Clohessy, executive director for SNAP – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – is outraged DaVila vanished and resurfaced on another pulpit in the Sooner State.

“I think it’s inappropriate, I think it’s insulting. We believe this priest shouldn’t be a priest at all, this priest should be behind bars,” said Clohessy.

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