GUAM
KUAM
[with video]
Updated: Jun 15, 2016
By Krystal Paco
Roland Sondia was only 15 years old when he had an unforgettable encounter with then-Father Anthony Apuron. Like the other alleged victims, Sondia was an altar boy at Mount Carmel Church. That brings the count of Apuron’s accusers up to five to date. A press conference was held earlier today at the steps of the Agana Cathedral Pastoral Center detailing the graphic events.
It’s enough pain to bring a grown man to tears. Like the others, Sondia was an altar boy in Agat when he alleges he was molested by Apuron. That summer night in 1977, the boys were sleeping on the rectory living room floor. In the middle of the night, Apuron came to Sondia asking for help, as he recalled, “I didn’t think anything of the situation because we were there to help the priest.
“He then started to say that of all the altar boys, that I was the only one that he could trust. And I was the only one he could rely on the most.”
In the bedroom alone, Apuron allegedly asked Sondia, then a teen, for sex. “He put his right arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer and asked, ‘Do you want to try me?’. Before I could do anything he started rubbing my privates. I loudly asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ I told him to stop, but he didn’t.”
Sondia was able to break free and cried all the way home. “I was in shock. I was confused. Offended. Humiliated. And disappointed that the man I looked up to had just asked me if I wanted to have sex with him,” he shared. “I know there are other boys who were victims of this man. I hope and pray that they also will come forward.”
While decades have passed, Sondia’s wife Frances says today marks the first day of healing for her husband. “I wish that the archdiocese would take this seriously. To take Roy [Quintanilla], Walter [Denton], Doris [Concepcion], and my husband seriously. And I pray that the others will come out,” she announced.
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