Riverside County Pastor Suspected for Drug, Sex Crimes

NBC Los Angeles ^ | 12/30/2009 | MARY PARKS and BILL FRENCH

[markomalley]

Behind the locked gates of Our Lady of Tepayac Church in the Home Gardens community, Riverside County Sheriff's Investigators say they found evidence to suggest the unthinkable had occurred.

"This is a very evil man who hid behind the good book to take advantage of little boys," said Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Clergyman Anthony Martinez-Garduno was arrested late Tuesday after deputies found evidence to indicate he was selling methamphetamines from his church.

Detectives conducting a search warrant also located evidence of possible sex assaults on underage boys who had allegedly been given GHB, the date rape drug.

Ironically, Garduno is being held in the same jail as five men who he told police shot him last September during a botched robbery attempt at the church. Detectives now believe that crime was not random. Police suspect that during a 10 hour crime spree from Los Angeles to Corona, Garduno was a targeted drug dealer.

The Diocese of San Bernardino says Garduno is not affiliated with their organization in any way. NBC4 has learned that Garduno is actually a defrocked priest who calls himself a bishop, but has no church standing.

Even so, Parishioners were confused today, some stopping by the church asking if the man they knew as Father Tony was doing alright.

"He targeted Spanish speaking families," said Sgt. Gutierrez. "We believe there are many more victims out there. We want to find all of them because we don't want him to ever see the light of day again."

[markomalley]

Note this paragraph well:

The Diocese of San Bernardino says Garduno is not affiliated with their organization in any way. NBC4 has learned that Garduno is actually a defrocked priest who calls himself a bishop, but has no church standing.

Other than the obvious issue that it is buried in the middle of the article, it really brings up concerns for me. The Church laicizes, excommunicates, anathematizes, or whatever to a pervert...and still has to deal with this kind of crap.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Any chance you can get an Admin Moderator to add (Not Catholic, by the way) to the headline?

Geez.

[presently no screen name]

Actually, while reading the article, the comment from The Diocese of San Bernardino stood out to me - I didn’t feel it was hidden. Just thankful the article included it. Weird picture of him with no shirt on.