Davis priest arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing teen girl

Daily Democrat
May 10, 2014

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/breakingnews/ci_25738766/davis-priest-arrested-suspicion-sexually-abusing-teen-girl

Father Hector Coria is seen at his ordination at St. Thomas More Church in Paradise in January 2011. He was arrested Friday in Davis for allegedly sexually abusing a teen girl.

A Davis priest has been arrested for the alleged sexual abuse of a 17-year-old girl.

On Friday, Davis police served search warrants at multiple locations and subsequently arrested Father Hector Coria, 45, on charges of statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor, according to a department statement. Coria was booked into the Yolo County Jail.

The Davis Police Department began to investigate the sexual abuse allegations earlier in May. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that the suspect had befriended the minor while he was a priest with a Catholic Church.

He is listed as a priest at St. James Parish in Davis. According to a Facebook page of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Paradise, he was ordained in January 2011.

In late 2013, Coria began a sexual relationship with the minor and engaged in that sexual relationship on multiple occasions.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call Davis police at 747-5400.

The following statement was released by Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, regarding Coria's charges, to KCRA.

"Fr. Hector Coria, a priest at St. James Parish in Davis, has been arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor by the City of Davis Police Department.

"In keeping with diocesan policy, Fr. Coria has been placed on administrative leave, his faculties have been withdrawn and he may no longer publicly function as a priest while this matter is under investigation by local law enforcement and Davis Police."

In August 2013, former priest at Woodland's Holy Rosary Catholic Church Uriel Ojeda was sentenced to at least seven years in state prison for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl while serving as a priest in Redding.