Local and federal law-enforcement officers raided a Texas archdiocese’s offices after the church failed to provide all the evidence requested by the district attorney’s office, The New York Times reports. About 50 local and federal agents reportedly showed up in front of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s offices looking for “documents, electronic communications and other evidence” relating to Rev. Manuel LaRosa-Lopez—who was arrested this year on four felony counts of indecency with a child. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the local archbishop who is also the president of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, reportedly assigned LaRosa-Lopez to work at a parish after he knew LaRosa-Lopez was accused of molesting a teenage girl. In a statement Wednesday, the archdiocese claimed the “information being sought was already being compiled” and denied the search was an involuntary “raid.” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney and Special Crimes Chief J. Tyler Dunman, however, told the Times the evidence voluntarily provided by the church was “nowhere near” what was requested. The raid comes as attorneys general in at least 12 states have opened inquiries into clergy sexual abuse.
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