A jury of eight women and four men was seated on Tuesday in the criminal trial of Anthony Odiong, a Roman Catholic priest who ministered in Texas and southeast Louisiana and is charged with illicitly abusing his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable female congregants.
Charges and potential sentence
Odiong, 57, faces five charges of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault in Waco, Texas, involving three women he met while working there. He could receive life imprisonment if convicted on any first-degree charge. Second-degree sexual assault carries between two and 20 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.
Background of the case
The charges were prompted by a February 2024 Guardian report about women accusing Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching, and abusive financial control. A woman not interviewed by the Guardian later brought the story to Waco police, reporting that Odiong had sexually assaulted her in 2012. Investigators identified up to 10 women he allegedly preyed on in Texas and the New Orleans archdiocese. Prosecutors charged Odiong with exploiting three women's emotional dependency on him as a spiritual adviser to engage in sexual conduct, a felony under Texas law.
The three women include the one who reported him to police, another interviewed by the Guardian, and a third identified through messages recovered during the investigation. Odiong is charged with first-degree assault of two women because they were married at the time, violating a Texas anti-bigamy law that prohibits him from living under the appearance of being married to them.
Trial proceedings
Opening arguments were scheduled for Tuesday morning, with witness testimony to follow. Odiong's attorneys argued that the state waited too long to file charges, allowing prosecutors to introduce hearsay testimony about the number of accusers. Court records show prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice plan to call multiple accusers and present evidence that Odiong fathered a child with a congregant, violating his celibacy vow. That woman is not among the three charged victims, but authorities argue it shows a pattern.
Odiong was arrested in July 2024 over allegations of possessing illicit digital images of a child found during the investigation, but no formal charges were filed. His attorneys argued the images were sent by a congregant concerned about her daughter's rash and requested prayer. Judge Thomas West denied a motion to exclude evidence from that arrest and a motion to postpone the trial.
The jury was chosen from a pool of 100 prospective jurors, who were asked about impartiality despite media coverage, whether pastors could exploit emotional dependency, and whether religious personnel are ever off duty.
Odiong's background
Odiong, a naturalized US citizen from Nigeria, was ordained in 1993 and became known for prayer services where attendees reported healings. He transferred to Waco in 2006 under Bishop Gregory Aymond, worked at Baylor University, and later studied in Rome. In 2015, he began working in the New Orleans archdiocese as pastor of St Anthony of Padua in Luling, Louisiana, and built a healing chapel after raising $600,000.
Church officials in Austin suspended Odiong from ministry by 2019 over misconduct allegations but did not publicly announce it. Aymond waited until December 2023 to suspend him in New Orleans, despite being notified years earlier. Odiong had also made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks to his congregation.
Waco authorities charged Odiong amid a debate within the Catholic church over widening the definition of a vulnerable adult in clergy abuse cases. Currently, the church only considers adults with severe disabilities as vulnerable. Aymond retired in February after the New Orleans archdiocese agreed to pay $305 million to abuse survivors in a bankruptcy case.
Odiong has denied wrongdoing and remains in custody on $5.5 million bail.
