Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
Catholic Charities of Houston worker accused of sexually assaulting refugee boy
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 25, 2011
Catholic Charities of Houston, the agency which was the subject of complaints from gay Iraqi refugees in 2010, is now attempting to defend itself from allegations that a worker sexually assaulted an 11-year-old refugee boy in 2007. ABC 13 KTRK-TV tells us more:
HOUSTON (KTRK) — A former Catholic Charities worker is accused of indecency with a child, and the boy involved says the worker threatened not to give financial help to his family if he told anyone.
The man in question worked at Catholic Charities until 2009. He is currently working for another county agency, but is not yet under arrest, so we went looking for the man wanted by authorities.
In 2007 while working at Catholic Charities, prosecutors say Carlos Valera sexually assaulted an 11-year-old Cuban refugee whose family was receiving help from the charity.
“The defendant would call the victim to his office and ask if he wanted some candy,” said assistant district attorney Tolu Omodele. “The victim would go into his office, and the defendant would grab his hand.”…
…we contacted his former employer. In a statement Catholic Charities says it was made aware of a potential problem two years ago.
- “Catholic Charities is aware of criminal allegations made today in Houston against a former employee of this organization. Two years ago Catholic Charities acted quickly to investigate concerns about the employee. After engaging an outside firm to independently investigate, we terminated the employee in November 2009 for violating our agency’s Ethical and Personal Conduct Policy. We remain committed to safety and wellbeing of our 90,000 clients in the Greater Houston area and fully support the independent and law enforcement investigations of this matter.”…
…”He threatened the victim,” Omodele said. “He told him not to say anything. He told him that if he did tell anyone, that his family would no longer be assisted by the organization.”… Read more here
What I’d like Catholic Charities of Houston to respond to is what the agency’s role was in the delay in the allegations coming forward, which it claims to have known about for two-years.
