CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star
Published: August 17, 2013
By Cynthia Hubert — chubert@sacbee.com
Some time during the next week or so, the Rev. Uriel Ojeda will leave Sacramento County’s Main Jail and join other inmates for a long bus ride to state prison.
Once a rising star in the Sacramento Roman Catholic Diocese, lauded by parishioners for his compassion and faith, the young priest likely will spend at least seven years in the harsh confines of an institution where security cameras and uniformed guards will monitor his every movement.
He will be treated “no differently than any other inmate,” said California Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Sessa.
But Ojeda, 33, is no ordinary convict.
Only a few Catholic priests are currently imprisoned in California for child sexual abuse, said Patrick Wall, a former priest and canon lawyer who advocates for victims of clergy abuse from his office in St. Paul, Minn.
“I am aware of only five,” said Wall. He documents such cases along with the nonprofit BishopAccountability.org.
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