GUAM
Guam Daily Post
Mindy Aguon | For the Post
Thousands of miles from Guam, in a quiet neighborhood in Fairfield, California, sits a quaint, two-story home. On the morning of Jan. 11, the doorbell rings and a man opens the door. He’s asked if he has seen a missing dog. A photo is taken with a cell phone and compared with those found on the internet. The photo resembles the former leader of the island’s Catholic Church, Anthony Sablan Apuron, 71, only thinner and with a goatee.
According to Post files, Apuron’s exact location was unknown and one of his last public statements last year indicated he remained “on retreat” while working with Vatican authorities to establish his innocence.
A video Apuron posted in June last year showed a view of the Vatican in the background leading some to believe he was still in Rome.
But attorney David J. Lujan, whose firm represents a number of victims of sexual abuse by clergy members who once served in parishes on Guam, maintains he knew Apuron wasn’t in Rome. Acting on suspicions that Apuron was in San Francisco, the lawyer hired investigators on three occasions and finally made contact with Apuron on the morning of Jan. 11.
Besides undergoing a canonical trial in Rome, Apuron is also facing lawsuits filed in the Superior Court and District Court of Guam for allegedly raping and sexually abusing altar boys in the 1970s.
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.