Priest accused of coercing congregants for sex in Texas could have single trial for charges from three separate accusers | Texas

A Roman Catholic priest with ties to Texas and southeast Louisiana accused of abusing his position as a clergyman to have sex with three spiritually vulnerable female congregants faces trial in all of those cases simultaneously.

The Texas district attorney’s office prosecuting Anthony Odiong filed a motion seeking to consolidate the three cases in late March, ahead of the trial date, which the Guardian understands has been tentatively set for May 4. The motion, filed by first assistant McLennan County prosecutor Ryan Calvert, states that Texas state law allows “one defendant.” [to] If the alleged crimes are “connected or … the same or similar crimes are committed repeatedly,” they can be prosecuted in a single criminal case.

And Calvert’s motion argues that each of the three pending cases against Odiong involves him “exploiting his parishioners’ emotional dependence on him as spiritual advisor and engaging in sexual relations with them,” which Texas law classifies as a felony.

Odiong may object to Calvert’s request that each case be tried separately. Defense attorney Gerald Villarrial declined to comment.

Calvert’s three-page motion marked the latest significant turn in a high-stakes investigation launched by authorities in the Waco, Texas, community after the Guardian published a report in February 2024 about women accusing Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and poor financial control while he worked as a Catholic priest.

The defendant was ultimately charged with five counts of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault stemming from his encounters with three women. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of any of the first-degree charges.

Investigators ultimately identified a total of 10 women Odiong was suspected of preying on after meeting him through his ministry in Texas and throughout the Louisiana area, including suburban New Orleans. The cases of most of these women, including those from Louisiana, did not result in criminal charges.

But the large number of accusers coming forward against Odiong meant that Texas prosecutors could legally pursue him regardless of how long ago some of the alleged crimes occurred. And some accusers whose allegations did not lead to criminal charges against Odiong may be called to testify in support of three women whose cases Calvert’s office wants to try at once.

Odiong’s provisional trial date appears to come as the worldwide Catholic church has been debating for years over whether the definition of a vulnerable adult in the context of clergy abuse should be extended to adults under the spiritual authority of priests who then target them for sexual intercourse.

Currently, the Catholic church considers anyone over the age of 18 and with a “serious intellectual developmental or psychological disability” to be a vulnerable adult. Modern Vatican policy clearly defines sexual abuse of children or vulnerable adults.

Leo XIV became the first US-born pope in history, months after McLennan made the formal accusation against Odiong.

Odiong is one of several men who worked as Catholic clergy in the New Orleans area and were arrested by authorities in connection with sexual abuse allegations before and after the city’s archdiocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection in 2020.

The archdiocese of New Orleans and its insurers have agreed to pay a lump sum of $305 million to settle hundreds of survivors of clergy abuse involved in the bankruptcy case.

In December 2024, Odiong rejected an offer to plead guilty to the charges against him in exchange for a chance to receive parole after being sentenced to 20 years in prison.

A month before that, there was a preliminary hearing in which it was revealed that Odiong, as a clergyman, had violated Catholic priests’ promise to practice sexual celibacy by having at least two children with women he worked with.

While there is no indication that any of the three women at the center of the accusations against Odiong are the mothers of his children, authorities believe the priest’s child is living proof that he has a habit of stalking women he meets through his work.

Before he was charged, Odiong published an open letter on social media rejecting the allegations made against him in the Guardian report as a “false, obscene, one-sided smear campaign”.