Priest charged with sex abuse of minor

A 58-year-old priest Arístides Rodríguez Otero is in provisional detention after being accused of groping, kissing, and taking nude photographs of his 5-year-old nephew.

The investigations began on April 5 after the complaint of the minor’s mother revealed the first superior prosecutor Luis Martínez.

According to the first investigations, the priest  traveled to the Barú district with his nephew and then took him to the river to take nude photographs of him.

Prosecutor Gladys Palacios said that the crimes are reprehensible, which is why she requested preventive detention and separation from his position as a priest in Gualaca.

The priest was apprehended last Sunday and, judicial authorities found photographs of the naked minor on his cell phone.

Judge Pablo González, legalized the detention, and admitted the formulation of charges for the crimes of aggravated libidinous acts and obscene exhibitionism, and applied the precautionary measure of detention preventive.

The defender requested that he be granted the precautionary measure to sign periodically,  but was denied by the judge.

An appeal hearing was set for April 21.

The judge granted the Public Ministry a term of six months to complete the investigations.

The detainee was the parish priest of the Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles Catholic Church in the Gualaca district.