Charges Dropped For Priest Accused Of Putting Girl's Hair In His Mouth

JOLIET, IL — The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow has chosen to dismiss its criminal case against a traveling Catholic priest, Father Carlos Martins, in connection with his incident last November while visiting a Joliet Catholic school with his holy relic of St. Jude.

The Catholic News Agency reported that the Burke Law Group said in a Wednesday news release that the priest, who hosts “The Exorcist Files” podcast, had been “fully cleared of all charges” stemming from a Nov. 21, 2024, event held at Queen of Apostles Parish in Joliet.

CNA reported that prosecutors “withdrew those charges and dismissed the case” without any finding of any wrongdoing or criminal liability on the part of the priest. In the news release, the attorney said the dismissal of the charges was “exactly the result we were expecting.”

“What he was charged with was simply absurd,” attorney Marcella Burke declared in her press release. “This was a case that never should have been brought forward. The court’s ruling is a full vindication of Father Martins’ innocence from the beginning of any and all criminal wrongdoing.”

In January, two months after Joliet Patch reported the news surrounding allegations regarding the behavior of a Houston, Texas, Catholic priest, Rev. Carlos Martins, the 50-year-old priest was being charged in Will County with committing a crime during his brief visit to Joliet in November.

The criminal complaint handled by the Joliet Police Department alleged that Martins committed the crime of battery on Nov. 25. Martins knowingly and without legal justification made contact of an insulting or provoking nature with a minor in that Father Martens put the hair of the girl into his mouth and made a "flossing" motion, the complaint noted. Police were also told that after the victim had sat down, the priest sat behind her and made a growling noise, officials previously told Patch.

The incident happened at the new parish grade school campus for the former St. Paul's and St. Jude's, now called the Queen of Apostles School.

"The ministry of Fr. Carlos Martins has been temporarily suspended pending an ongoing police investigation into a recent complaint at one of his relic expositions that took place in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois," the Companions of The Cross website announced. "Fr. Roger Vandenakker, General Superior of the Companions of the Cross, has been fully informed of this matter."