OKLAHOMA
News OK
Carla Hinton Published: April 26, 2016
LAWTON — A priest who in 2012 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual battery charge involving a young woman has been removed from his role as pastor of several Catholic churches in Oklahoma.
Tuesday, in a prepared statement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said the Rev. Jose Alexis Davila was removed from his pastoral work in the archdiocese after more investigation was conducted into the priest’s past.
Davila had been serving at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and St. Mary’s Catholic School, both in Lawton, supporting the parish’s pastor, the Rev. Michael Chapman. Davila was to eventually become the Lawton church’s pastor because Coakley had appointed him to the position effective in June. Davila had been serving in a pastoral role at churches in Elgin, Apache and Sterling as well.
“After a continued investigation by archdiocesan staff, I became aware late Monday of new information regarding the allegations against Father Alexis Davila that made it necessary for me to remove him from pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Father Davila left the archdiocese on Tuesday,” Coakley said in his statement.
Diane Clay, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said before coming to Oklahoma, Davila pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2012 in San Diego and was sentenced to probation for three years and community service, which he completed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.