Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 06/22/06

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - (707) 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Larry Scoufos Deputy District Attorney: Carla Rodriguez

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

CHARGES FILED IN PRIEST SEX ABUSE CASE

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that his office has prepared a criminal complaint and has requested an arrest warrant  for Father Francisco Ochoa-Perez, also known as Francisco Xavier Ochoa.  The criminal complaint is the result of a thorough investigation conducted by detectives of the Sonoma County Sheriff Department’s Sexual Assault Division.

The criminal complaint alleges ten felony offenses and one misdemeanor violation.  All crimes involve lewd conduct with minors.  There are three minor victims.

The crimes are alleged to have been committed from 1988 to the present.  The charges allege that  Ochoa committed various acts with minors, including lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14, lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16, forcible sodomy, and forcible oral copulation. 

Francisco Xavier Ochoa was assigned to St. Francis Solano Catholic Church in Sonoma. If convicted of offenses involving two or more victims,  Ochoa faces a life sentence in prison.  Although his current whereabouts are unknown at this time, there is information that he may be in Mexico.