DAVIS, Calif. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest in Northern California has been arrested for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl he befriended while working at a Davis church.
Davis police officers arrested the Rev. Hector Coria on Friday on suspicion of statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor. The 45-year-old priest was booked into the Yolo County jail but bonded out on Saturday.
Police said Coria had been involved with the girl since last year. Telephone and email messages left for him at St. James Parish in Davis, where the church bulletin lists him as one of two staff pastors, were not immediately returned on Sunday.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento spokesman Kevin Eckery tells television station KCRA in Sacramento (https://bit.ly/1nC6JLM ) that Coria has been put on leave and may not perform priestly duties while the investigation continues.
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