GUAM
Guam Daily Post
Louella Losinio | Post News Staff
After nearly four decades of silence, Walter Denton yesterday spoke to those gathered in front of the Pastoral Office at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, alleging that he was sexually molested by then-parish priest, now Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The confession followed an announcement that Pope Francis has relieved Apuron of his duties and appointed an interim administrator for the archdiocese.
“I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat,” Denton said at the media conference yesterday.
With family and supporters by his side, Denton – making the third accusation of sexual abuse of altar servers by Apuron within the last three weeks – said the incident “changed the direction of his life,” and described how the abuse started in April 1977 when Apuron asked him to stay overnight at the rectory of Mount Carmel Church in Agat, where Apuron was a priest.
Denton, then a 13-year-old altar boy, said Apuron insisted that he sleep in the bedroom with him. He said that during the night, he was sodomized by Apuron.
Denton, 52, currently lives in Casa Grande, Arizona. He said he spent 23 years 11 months in the U.S. military but over the years, the experience of being raped by Apuron weighed on him.
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