SPLENDORA, Texas – A raid to find evidence on a priest accused of child sex crimes revealed details about a Splendora treatment center that angered neighbors.
They never saw it coming.
Investigators raided the Shalom Center on Morgan Drive to uncover information regarding the treatment of Manual La Rosa Lopez. The Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston sent La Rosa Lopez there in the early-2000’s after hearing allegations he abused a teen in Conroe.
She and another victim went to police last week. Both victims said they know at least two more potential victims, according to the search warrant for the Shalom Center.
During their search, police learned about the treatment priests receive at the center. That information stunned neighbors.
“I don’t like it,” Mike Reynolds, a neighbor said. “I (have) little kids so that makes me worried.”
A Catholic Directory posted online suggests the center treats 410 priests, clergy or religious men and women each year. The facility has 20-beds scattered across 12 acres.
Some clients went there because of “accusations of present or past alleged inappropriate sexual behaviors,” according to a 1995 Bishop Accountability report.
The report also said clients produce self-reports that include a “sexual autobiography.”
In cases involving pedophilia, Shalom Center staff refer clients elsewhere, according to the report.
“I knew it just helped out priests and stuff like that,” Reynolds said.
Neighbors saw nuns move in and out as well as priests there for treatment walking up and down the street without supervision. When asked about their circumstances, clients said they come from across the country for a variety of counseling needs, neighbors said. However, clients kept details private.
Reynolds, who has five children, wonders why families living around the center received no warning.
“(Operate the center) where there (are not) as many kids,” he said.
Some neighbors told KHOU 11 News they plan to start a petition drive to force Shalom Center to move or keep people accused of abuse out the neighborhood.
Calls and emails to Shalom Center’s CEO were not immediately returned.
La Rosa-Lopez’s lawyer said his legal team is “trying to establish facts and dates that confirm Father La Rosa-Lopez’s innocence.”
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