Lawrence Hecker, child molester

A priest in New Orleans who molested boys is finally facing prosecution, as we read 4WWL:

Aretired Catholic priest from New Orleans who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested or harassed numerous children is now at last facing criminal charges.

State prosecutors in New Orleans obtained an indictment charging Lawrence Hecker, 91, on Thursday with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, a count of aggravated crime against nature and a count of theft.

Shortly after the indictment was announced, Hecker declined to comment by phone.

The crimes allegedly occurred at the now-shuttered St John Vianney prep school – adjacent to St. Theresa the Little Flower of the Child Jesus church – where Hecker worked in 1975, when the accuser was either a 15- or 16-year-old child, according to the alleged victim’s civil attorney, Richard Trahant.

In Louisiana, statutes of limitation do not prevent authorities from pursuing long-ago allegations of child rape.

The charge against Hecker comes a little more than two months after the Guardian reported on a statement that he gave in 1999 to church leaders in which he acknowledged committing “overtly sexual acts” with multiple underage boys in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also acknowledged having unusually close relationships with other boys stretching into the 1980s but had not faced any substantial consequences until prosecutors in the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams obtained Thursday’s indictment.

Just last month, WWL-TV and British newspaper the Guardian published an interview during which reporters for the outlets confronted Hecker about his 1999 statement. Hecker – while WWL cameras rolled – twice said, “Yes,” when asked if he committed the specific sexual acts laid out in the statement.