A Roman Catholic priest convicted of criminal clergy sexual assault in Texas has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Anthony Odiong, 57, received the punishment from a jury at a state courthouse in Waco on Tuesday after witnesses described his sexually inappropriate behaviour spanning more than a decade.
Odiong entered the two-day sentencing proceeding knowing he faced between five and 99 years – or life – in prison after being found guilty of a first-degree sexual assault charge. He was also found guilty of two second-degree sexual assault charges, receiving 20 years' imprisonment on each. The three sentences are to be served concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole after 30 years. Jurors also fined Odiong $10,000 on each charge.
Odiong's attorney, Gerald Villarial, told media on Tuesday that he would seek an appeal. At the end of a four-day trial on Friday, the same jury determined Odiong was guilty of first- and second-degree sexual assault by illegally exploiting his spiritual authority as a clergyman for sex with two devout female parishioners, whether directly or by proxy.
Odiong spent much of a roughly 17-year period beginning in 2006 ministering in a region including Waco, Texas, and serving as the pastor of a Catholic church in the New Orleans suburb of Luling, Louisiana. In late 2023, leaders of New Orleans' Catholic archdiocese confirmed they had removed Odiong from his role as pastor over clerical misconduct with multiple women.
The Guardian published a February 2024 investigative report on a group of women who had accused Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and abusive financial control while providing them with spiritual direction. That article prompted a woman, identified in court as Mary Doe, to bring a copy of the reporting to Waco police and tell them that Odiong had fostered a sexual relationship with her from 2008 to 2011 while providing her with spiritual direction. Texas considers such conduct by a cleric to be felony sexual assault.
Lead detective Bradley DeLange told the Waco news outlet KCEN that the Guardian reporting provided a road map for the investigation into Odiong. Among corroborating complainants was a woman who began receiving spiritual direction from Odiong after meeting him in Luling and then had a child with him in spring 2023.
