Former El Paso priest on trial for child sex abuse allegedly fathered prostitute’s child
A bombshell revelation was delivered by prosecutors late Thursday in day three of the trial of a former El Paso Catholic priest accused of child sexual abuse.
The prosecution said 68-year old Miguel Luna fathered a daughter with a prostitute and then misappropriated funds from the church to funnel to that daughter.
Prosecutors also said Luna was sent in 1988 to the Shalom Center in Houston, a rehab facility for priests and nuns in need of mental health counseling, but theycontend the therapy failed in Luna’s case.
Luna is on trial for multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in a case that dates back to the 1990s while he was still an active priest; the alleged victim is now a 36-year old woman.
Luna started working as a priest in the 10-county Diocese of El Paso back in 1982, but was later removed from the ministry in 2013.
The Diocese has said that Luna admitted to the assaults when church officials first became aware of the allegations and looked into it. Bishop Mark Seitz testified about the church investigation into those allegations on Wednesday.