CONROE — A local priest accused of sexually abusing parishioners when they were teens at a Conroe church made his first appearance in a Montgomery County court on Tuesday morning.
Manuel La Rosa-Lopez is facing four counts of indecency with a child. He was arrested in September after two accusers came forward claiming La Rosa-Lopez abused them roughly two decades earlier when they were teenagers and he was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
La Rosa-Lopez did not enter a plea Tuesday and did not comment after the hearing. His lawyers declined an interview.
Prosecutors told reporters outside the courthouse in Conroe their work is far from over.
“We’ve had a number of calls, probably 50, 60 calls, about this case and different aspects of it,” said Tyler Dunman, Special Crimes Bureau Chief for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. “Each one of the calls that we receive, we’re running down, we’re interviewing, we’re following up on. Some of the calls have been helpful, some of them, you know, are not so helpful, but we’re continuing to ask the public to come forward with information, and we’re digging, looking under every rock possible that’s brought to us.”
On October 4, the attorney for a third accuser came forward, claiming La Rosa-Lopez sexually abused his client when he was an altar boy in Houston from 1993 to 1994.
Dunman said Tuesday investigators have been speaking with that accuser for the last several weeks but are still investigating and have not filed charges. He added the priest is not working at any church and is following strict guidelines while he’s out on bond.
La Rosa-Lopez is due back in court January 10.