A Nigerian Catholic priest has been indicted in McLennan County, Texas, on felony sexual assault charges, following accusations of sexual and financial abuse from multiple victims, according to court documents and investigative reports quoted by The New York Times on September 15, 2024.
The priest, Father Anthony Odiong, was indicted on Thursday by a grand jury in McLennan County, Texas, on two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of first-degree sexual assault.
He was arrested in July in Ave Maria, Fla., when investigators found him in possession of child pornography while looking into sexual assault claims reported to the police, according to a Facebook post from the Waco Police Department.
He was not indicted on possession of child pornography, but could be in the future, Detective Bradley DeLange said.
During the investigation, Detective DeLange said, the police found several women with similar stories of abuse as the original victim who had come forward.
Detective DeLange discovered at least eight women who claim that the priest groped, sexually assaulted or financially abused them, including one woman who sought Father Odiong’s counsel over her marriage troubles.
Under Texas Law, it is considered sexual assault if members of the clergy engages in sexual activity with individuals who depend on them emotionally as “spiritual advisers.”
Father Odiong served as a priest at St. Peter Catholic Student Center in Waco, Texas, and at St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption in West, Texas, from 2007 to 2012, according to the police, and he also served in Luling, La., from around 2015 to 2023.
He was brought to McLennan County Jail on Aug. 6 and is being held on a $2.5 million bond, according to jail documents.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the second-degree sexual assault charges and could get life in prison for his first-degree felony charge, according to Christopher King, a lawyer representing several people in a separate civil case against the priest.
The Guardian reported in February on the allegations, which Father Odiong denied in April in a Facebook post that called them a “false, salacious and one-sided smear campaign.”
