Ex-Conroe Priest Appears In Court On Sex Abuse Charges

CONROE, TX — A former priest accused of sexually abusing children while he was serving as a priest at the Sacred Heart Church in Conroe made his first court appearance on Tuesday. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez is charged with four counts of sexually abusing a child and is free on $345,000 bond.

The charges stem from incidents involving a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy that were reported to church officials at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

La Rosa-Lopez turned himself in at the Montgomery County Jail on Sept. 11 and was released on bond two days later.

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La Rosa-Lopez appeared in the Montgomery County 435th state District Court on Tuesday morning and learned his next court appearance won’t be until early 2019.

Officials with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said they are still poring through mounds of documents seized during various searches at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, and the Shalom Center in Splendora, where La Rosa-Lopez underwent counseling after the incidents.

Prosecutors in the case said the church knew about La Rosa-Lopez, but failed to report the incidents to police.
Officials from the Archdiocese said they reported the incidents to Child Protective Services and removed La Rosa-Lopez from ministry when the learned of the incidents.

La Rosa-Lopez faces a sentence of 20 years in prison for each charge if he is convicted. He is due back in court on Jan. 10.

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Image: MCSO

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