A statement released by the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office Friday addressed allegations of abuse concerning a former Luling priest. Based on the information it received, it did not believe the matter was criminal in nature.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted Wednesday (Dec. 6) by a representative of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, who informed a claim in the Archdiocese bankruptcy case had been filed by the attorney of an unnamed 54-year-old female alleging that she was a victim of inappropriate sexual abuse by Father Anthony Odiong in different locations around the country. The woman claimed one of those incidents took place in St. Charles Parish.
Police contacted the woman’s attorney in order to begin an investigation. The attorney said that the woman did not wish to have law enforcement involved and that the client was not willing to come forward and provide a statement at the time.
Later Wednesday, a member of the press contacted the Sheriff’s Office to inform he had been advised by that attorney that the client had allegedly spoken to a detective with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office four years ago about the allegations.
After checking with its investigative bureau, the Sheriff’s Office said it determined that a detective did field phone calls some years ago from a woman residing in another state in which she alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Odiong in multiple states including one encounter in St. Charles Parish.
The Sheriff’s Office said that at the time, the events she described to the detective, if true, would appear to be consensual.
Police added at least one subsequent phone conversation occurred between the detective and the woman wherein it again appeared that her description of the alleged sexual encounter in St. Charles Parish, if it in fact occurred, did not constitute a criminal act and she was informed so by the detective at that time. There was no further communication between her and anyone with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, according to the statement.
Odiong was recently removed from his position at St. Anthony of Padua Church, a dismissal first reported by The Guardian newspaper.
Odiong was to continue his work in Luling until January, but his dismissal was perhaps accelerated following a Nov. 26 mass in which he made disparaging remarks about LGBTQ+ people, a mass that was live-streamed. According to The Guardian, the archdiocese’s statement did not deny that it found Odiong’s remarks to be problematic and it suggested that the comments may have expedited his departure.
Odiong arrived at St. Anthony of Padua in 2016.
It was at the age of 25 that Odiong was ordained in 1993. He served in Nigeria for over a decade before moving to Austin, Texas, in 2006 on Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s invitation. He was assigned associate pastor at St. Mary’s of the Assumption in the city of West, Texas.
Two years later, he was appointed director of campus ministry at St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
I’m confused about why the Sheriff’s Office released this statement if the anonymous woman who was talking with her lawyer about this didn’t want law enforcement involved. Any idea as to what the Sheriff’s Office is hoping to gain?