DALLAS (CNN) — A former priest and dean at Subiaco Academy is accused of sexually abusing a student in the 1980s after the allegations surfaced as part of a sprawling investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
Father Jeremy Myers, 62, who worked at the abbey in Logan County and later requested a transfer to Dallas in 1991, reportedly molested the boy in 1986, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Dallas County.
The boy said Myers "seemed to like him and would come to his defense anytime he got in trouble" and later gave him extra privileges, according to the affidavit.
The boy said the first inappropriate contact occurred after Myers started letting the boy into his room.
The boy was kicked out of the all-boys Catholic school during his sophomore year, but was later allowed to live with Myers in Dallas, where more abuse occurred at the rectory where Myers worked, according to the affidavit.
A witness said they reported the issue at the time to abbey officials, and Abbot Leonard Wangler notified Myers about the abuse.
In December 2018, a Dallas police officer interviewed Wangler about the allegations, and he said he had Myers speak to the boy about the allegations.
Wangler said Myers spoke to the boy and told Wangler the boy was lying about the abuse.
Wangler had "no response" when the officer said Wangler "basically had Myers investigate his own sexual allegation claim," according to the affidavit.
Current headmaster David Wright said in a statement Friday (May 17) the academy is "saddened to hear of any allegation of sexual abuse."
"(The academy) recognizes the struggle that the Catholic Church has faced in addressing claims of sexual abuse and in finding ways to bring to those who have been abused comfort, support, and the sense that justice has been done," Wright said.
Wright added that the academy is cooperating with police and has had no further comment due to the ongoing investigation.
Last fall, the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock announced it had received 38 allegations of clergy abuse.
The investigations followed last year's damning report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania that accused more than 300 "predator priests" of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children in six dioceses since 1947.
Dallas police searched the headquarters of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas and other properties Wednesday (May 15) as part of the church's widening sex abuse scandal, police and church officials said.
In a search warrant affidavit, a police investigator said the diocese had failed to reveal a full picture of sexual abuse allegations against a handful of its priests and, in some instances, handed over to authorities incomplete records on the accused.
"Despite assurances from the Diocese's attorneys the priests' files were complete and accurate, I also detailed specific examples where those files were not complete and accurate," Dallas police detective David Clark wrote in the affidavit, adding that efforts to obtain files about sex abuse claimants were "thwarted" by church officials.
Maj. Max Geron of the special investigations division said Wednesday's raids were related to allegations of sexual abuse that emerged after police issued an arrest warrant for a priest named Edmundo Paredes, who was previously assigned to St. Cecilia's Parish in Dallas.
Authorities said they consider Paredes a fugitive.
The diocese said in a statement that Paredes and the other four priests, including Myers who were the subjects of Wednesday's search warrant were on a list of accused clergy that Bishop Edward Burns released in January.
Burns said the diocese has been cooperating with investigators even before the list was made public.
"We recognized throughout our collaboration with the police there are some who are not satisfied and want to look for themselves," he said. "We know we have given them the files. And so we say by all means look."
The raid comes as the church -- both in the United States and around the world -- wrestles with a fresh wave of scandals that have spurred criminal investigations, roiled the faithful and damaged the institution's moral credibility.
St. Cecilia's Parish was one of the locations searched Wednesday, along with the diocese headquarters and a storage facility, Geron said.
"In addition to the allegations against Mr. Paredes, detectives are investigating at least five additional allegations of child abuse against other suspects," Geron told reporters.
"These investigations stem from additional allegations made after the case against Mr. Paredes became public."
Geron said police were searching for "any documentation, any data that would tend to further the investigation into these allegations of child abuse."
In August, the diocese informed parishioners at St. Cecilia of allegations of sexual abuse by Paredes, the former pastor. The alleged criminal offenses occurred more than a decade ago, church officials said.
The raid took the diocese by surprise since church officials have been cooperating with authorities for months, according to Catholic Diocese of Dallas spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor.
"We feel like we were being transparent," Gonzales Taylor said.
The diocese was not subpoenaed, church officials said.
The watchdog group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests praised Wednesday's searches as a sign "police and prosecutors are taking the issue of clergy abuse in Texas seriously and are not just relying on the promises of church officials."
"We hope that this raid today sheds more light on the clergy abuse scandal as it relates to the Diocese of Dallas and will uncover the full truth of who knew what, when they knew it, and what steps church officials took in response to allegations of sexual abuse," the group's statement said.
The search warrants were executed at various properties Wednesday, including the pastoral center and administrative offices, Gonzales Taylor said.
Dallas church officials said they alerted law enforcement last year of allegations from three adults who said Paredes sexually abused them when they were in their mid-teens. The allegations were found to be credible, the church said.
The Dallas diocese suspended Paredes, and he's no longer allowed to function as a priest, the church said.
"With the utmost sensitivity to victims, I have pledged to continue efforts of transparency and need to make you aware of this atrocious and sad event," Burns told St. Cecilia's parishioners in August.