Louisiana State Police recently served a criminal warrant that targets the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans to investigate an alleged sexual abuse scandal.

WWL Radio reports police are investigating “possible child sex trafficking linked to widespread sexual abuse committed by priests over several decades.”

Per WWL Radio:

According to that warrant, obtained by WWL Radio from the Orleans Parish Criminal Clerk of Court’s Office on Tuesday, Louisiana State Police is seeking all documents linked to the archdiocese’s sexual abuse scandal, including letters; emails; and priest assignments, transfers, and personnel files. The warrant also demands the archdiocese to turn over records of all complaints of sexual abuse made to archdiocesan officials and financial records related to the archdiocese’s sexual abuse cases and documents that led to priests being added to the list of priests who have been credibly accused of committing sexual abuse.

According to the search warrant, lead investigator Scott Rodrigue testified under oath that his team found a decades-long pattern of “widespread sexual abuse.” Rodrigue said that LSP investigators spoke with a “now-known victim” in June 2022. That known victim, Rodrigue said, “detailed being anally raped at an Archdiocese facility by Ex-Priest Father Lawrence Hecker, who served in 13 different congregations during his career.” That interview, Rodrigue said, led to state police launching its investigation into the Archdiocese.

Rodrigue added that archdiocesan officials covered up the abuse and failed to report it to law enforcement. Rodrigue said investigators reached that conclusion after speaking with victims and after reviewing “documents previously sealed by a federal bankruptcy judge.”

According to WDSU, the warrant says “the allegations include claims that the Archdiocese was aware of, disregarding, and/or covered up widespread claims of sexual abuse of minors dating back years. In some cases, monetary payments were made to victims and/or their families by the Archdiocese to dismiss allegations.”

WDSU reports:

The warrant also alleges that Hecker was not the only priest sent to a psychiatric facility to receive testing on allegations of child sex abuse.

LSP claims in the warrant that one document obtained by the agency proved that the Archbishop was “aware of rampant sexual abuse trough out the Archdiocese.”

The warrant claims much of the abuse took place at archdiocese facilities, including multiple reports of victims being ordered to skinny dip at a pool at the New Orleans Seminary.

According to the documents, priests had a gifting system that would allow other priests to know what victims were targets for potential abuse.

The warrant read:

“In some instances, ‘gifts’ were given to abuse victims by the accused with instructions to pass on or give the ‘gift’ to a certain priest at the next school or church. It was said that the ‘gift’ was a form of signaling to another priest that the person was a target of sexual abuse.”

The warrant ends with a request for “any and all documents that pertain in any way to the sexual abuse of a minor by clergy members employed or otherwise associated with the Archdiocese of New Orleans.”

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