HOUSTON – Several law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston early Tuesday. The warrant is the fourth search warrant executed in an investigation involving a Catholic priest who’s been charged with four felony counts of Indecency with a Child involving sexual contact in Montgomery County, Texas. The raid took place to gather documents, records, electronics and other items to be used as evidence in the case against Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez.
The Father was charged in Montgomery County on September 10th, and booked into jail on the 11th. He was released on a $375,000 bond two days later. His arrest came after investigators said a man and woman accused him of abuse while he was assigned to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe from the late 1990s to early 2000s. An altar boy claimed to be the priest’s third victim.
Law enforcement agencies previously executed search warrants at the St. John Fisher Catholic Church (Richmond, Texas) on September 12, 2018; Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Conroe, Texas) on September 17, 2018; and the Shalom Treatment Center (Splendora, Texas) on September 19, 2018.
La Rosa-Lopez is expected to plead not guilty at his next court appearance scheduled for January 10th, 2019.
