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- Luis Jesus Barajas, 76, a former priest accused of “inappropriately touching” a 15-year-old Westlake girl sick with cancer while giving her a blessing, was indicted on six counts of gross sexual imposition by a grand jury.
- “According to witnesses, Mr. Barajas touched the juvenile inappropriately during the blessing,” a police press release reads. “Barajas used blankets and clothing to hide some of his actions from witnesses but his touching made several uncomfortable.”
From the beginning, people at the ceremony were taken aback.
“Several of the witnesses who watched the blessings indicated that nothing seemed right about it,” Westlake Police Capt. Gerald Vogel said in an interview with Cleveland-based NBC affiliate WKYC.
- Police noted that Barajas was ordained in 1982 and preached for years in Pennsylvania – before he was given money to return to his native country of Colombia under a cloud of suspicion.
“Luis Jesus Barajas, a laicized priest with the Order of the Most Blessed Trinity, was assigned to the Diocese of Harrisburg from March, 1987 to November, 1989, to minister to the Spanish-speaking communities in the Lebanon and York areas,” the Diocese of Harrisburg said in a statement provided to WKYC. “In 1989, concerns regarding Barajas were reported to the Diocese, at which time his faculties to exercise his priestly ministry in the Diocese were removed and he returned to Colombia. The Diocese released Barajas’ name in August 2018 and his case was detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report regarding clergy abuse.”
- Barajas was also previously arrested in Virginia in 2019 on a charge of felony misconduct with a minor, police said. According to Cleveland-based Fox affiliate WJW, authorities ultimately declined to prosecute the former priest on that earlier allegation.
- Statement from the Diocese of Harrisburg regarding Barajas:
"Luis Jesus Barajas, a laicized priest with the Order of the Most Blessed Trinity, was assigned to the Diocese of Harrisburg from March, 1987 to November, 1989, to minister to the Spanish-speaking communities in the Lebanon and York areas. In 1989, concerns regarding Barajas were reported to the Diocese, at which time his faculties to exercise his priestly ministry in the Diocese were removed and he returned to Colombia. The Diocese released Barajas’ name in August 2018 and his case was detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report regarding clergy abuse.
"The Diocese continues to offer our assistance and prayers to survivors of abuse and to encourage those suffering from abuse to report those actions to law enforcement."