Preliminary hearing set for Davis priest charged with unlawful sex with minor

Daily Democrat
June 11, 2014

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/breakingnews/ci_25943349/preliminary-hearing-set-davis-priest-charged-unlawful-sex

A Roman Catholic priest who allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl was arraigned on Tuesday in Yolo Superior Court.

Rev. Hector Coria Gonzales, 46, is charged with three felony courts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a teenager he met while working at a Davis church.

According to the complaint, the charges stem from encounters between Gonzales and a 17-year-old girl that took place at a home, in a vehicle and at the church rectory over eight months.

At the arraignment, Gonzales did not enter a plea, and Yolo County Court Commissioner Janene Beronio scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24 in Department 1 for him to do so. There will also be a pre-hearing conference at that time, while the preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 8 in the same department.

Gonzales has been a staff pastor at St. James Parish in Davis for almost two years. After his arrest in May, Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento put him on leave. According to a Facebook page of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Paradise, he was ordained in January 2011.

In August 2013, the 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.