Father Dominic Nguyen confessed to downloading Child Pornography, sent to Psychological Treatment Facility

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Diocese Acts against Priests || Two Are Placed on Leave Pending
Reviews of Child-Pornography Accusations

By Jim Hinch
Orange County Register
July 29, 2003

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, seeking to quell mounting
controversy over its handling of alleged priest sexual abuse, on
Monday placed on administrative leave two priests suspected of
downloading child pornography.

Father Cesar Salazar of St. Joseph Church in Santa Ana and Father
Dominic Nguyen, who was recently performing a diocese desk job at an
undisclosed location, were stripped of all priestly duties until the
diocese decides their status.

Nguyen was disciplined in the Diocese of Boise and sent to Orange
County last year after a repairman allegedly found child pornography
on his computer at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Twin Falls,
Idaho. Nguyen had been sent to Idaho in 2000 after he had a sexual
relationship with a woman while he was a parish priest at St. Columban
Church in Garden Grove. He could not be reached for comment.

Salazar was accused in 2001 of downloading child pornography after a
diocese employee allegedly found dozens of images of boys having sex
with men on a computer formerly owned by the priest. Salazar was
restricted from interacting with children at St. Joseph's elementary
school but was allowed to continue celebrating Mass and living in the
parish residence.

Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto said Salazar told him Monday that he "did
not intentionally download child pornography." Nevertheless,
responding to mounting criticism, Salazar asked Soto to place him on
leave.

Soto said he decided to suspend Nguyen, whose identity had not
previously been disclosed, after the Register asked about his case.

Soto said Bishop Tod D. Brown will also "review the current staffing
of the (diocese's sex-abuse) review board," which has come under fire
for what critics have termed inaction in several cases of alleged
sexual misconduct.

Fernando Guido, the former diocese employee who accused Salazar, and a
former member of the board who resigned last month in frustration both
said Father Michael Mckiernan, a priest who represents the diocese on
the board, fails to take accusations against priests seriously.

Soto said the diocese is also preparing to cooperate with what he
termed an imminent FBI investigation of Salazar. FBI officials
declined to say whether they are commencing such an investigation.
Guido said he found signatures on Salazar's computer indicating that
the priest signed on to pornographic Web sites.

Downloading child porn is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years
in prison.

Police in Twin Falls said they investigated Nguyen and referred his
case to local prosecutors last year.

Twin Falls County prosecutors could not be reached for comment. Orange
County diocese officials said no charges were filed against Nguyen
because it was difficult to prove who downloaded specific images.

Nevertheless, Idaho Bishop Michael Driscoll stripped Nguyen of his
priestly roles in that state because "some kind of misconduct popped
up that looked like it could be criminal in nature and (the bishop)
practiced zero tolerance," said Collette Cowman, spokeswoman for the
Boise diocese.

After Nguyen returned to Orange County in January 2002, he was sent
for seven months to the St. Luke Institute in Maryland, a Catholic
treatment center for psychological problems. He was then assigned a
desk job away from parishes and monitored to ensure he had no contact
with children.

Soto said Brown has not disciplined Nguyen because he was never
charged with a crime and is still under review by the sex-abuse board.

However, the board member who resigned last month said he discussed
Nguyen's case with Brown in May and was told that the priest confessed
to downloading porn.

Brown said Nguyen's "acts were deplorable," said the former board
member, whose name is being withheld because he says he was a victim
of childhood sexual abuse. "The bishop said it's a definite likelihood
(that he would discipline Nguyen), but that's why he had a board -- to
make the decision. ... I thought the minute someone downloads child
porn, you're done. ... I said, 'As far as I'm concerned, it's a slam
dunk.' "

Soto said he was unable to confirm that Nguyen admitted downloading
the images.

Soto said the diocese, which has no written guidelines on viewing
child pornography, will consider "developing a protocol on how to
respond."

"It's important to act quickly ... to provide some peace of mind to
the community and those that are under investigation," Soto said.
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