CLEVELAND (OH)
WJW-TV, Fox - 8 [Cleveland OH]
February 13, 2024
By Justin Dennis
A former priest accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl with cancer while performing a “blessing” is scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday.
Luis J. Barajas, 76, a Colombian national, was indicted in November on six counts of gross sexual imposition in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
In October, he went to a Westlake home to pray with a 15-year-old girl who had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy, according to Westlake police.
Police said Barajas touched the girl inappropriately during the blessing and used a blanket to cover up the assault.
Authorities said Barajas was ordained in 1982, and that he was accused of sexual misconduct against juveniles in the Catholic diocese in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1989. He was then sent back to Colombia, according to investigators.
He is believed to have been removed from the priesthood after that.