OKLAHOMA
Raw Story
SARAH K. BURRIS
25 APR 2016
Fr. Jose Alexis Davila was convicted of inappropriately touching a 19-year-old woman in San Diego in 2011. Like most priests who have been caught or convicted of sex acts, Davila went to another church. The problem, however, is no one at the church was told about his crimes.
When the church of the Blessed Sacrament in Lawton, Oklahoma was introduced to Davila they were told only that “he has pastoral experience in the United States” but nothing about his criminal past or even the name of his previous church. None of the members hand any idea he was convicted for groping a teenager, according to KFOR News.
“We’re very alarmed by this,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “This is precisely the pattern that’s been in the Catholic Church for decades and it’s amazingly irresponsible.”
Following Davila’s conviction, the church decided he was worthy of being reinstated and “fit to minister” to the public again. His sentence from the judge was three years probation and 150 hours of community service.
It seems, after serving his time, he left for another place his past wasn’t known. He’s now serving the small communities of Elgin, Apache and Sterling in Oklahoma. The combined population of these cities is a little over 4,000 people.
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