Another Priest Caught with Laptop Porn. Testimony on Motion to Suppress Evidence, Feb. 4 in Salinas CA

Fr. Antonio Cortes was was at his desk at the Church when police arrested him April 16, 2009. As Officer Villegas moved to get his handcuffs, Cortes reached for a cell phone on his desk. Villegas grabbed the cell phone before Cortes could take it. Cortes affirmed the cell phone and laptop belonged to him. Villegas took Cortes outside to an unmarked police vehicle near the Church in Salinas, California. (From news reports Jan. 8, 2010.)

The defense says police served a search warrant for Cortes’ home and then took evidence from Cortes’ office.  Actually the search warrant was written for “rectory at 1747 Second Ave.”  or St. Mary of the Nativity Church, the Monterey Herald reported. Again the Church uses its own internal structure as a way to obstruct justice.

It is not clear if a rectory is an office or a home, the Defense argues, so the Court has to throw out all evidence seized that night at the Church. On January 7, 2010, Cortes’ attorney, “began an effort to suppress child-pornography evidence in the case,” is the way the Monterey Herald put it January 8th, and the hearing on Motion to Suppress by the Defense will continue Thursday Feb. 4 in Monterey Superior Court in Salinas, Courtroom 3, 1:30 PM.

Is it a Rectory, or a Home, or an Office?

Does it Matter?

When this is the “alleged” crime: The pastor of St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas is accused of sodomy with a 16-year-old boy in the rectory of the church April 14, then providing him alcohol. The boy told police that Cortes was giving him “spiritual massages” and alcohol for a few years, beginning at Holy Trinity Church in Greenfield, where Cortes was previously assigned Lawyer Eugene Martinez maintains Salinas police illegally seized an external hard drive from the Rev. Antonio Cortes’ church office when their search warrant was written for his home.

Further Testimony on the Defense Motion to Suppress Evidence tomorrow, Thursday February 4th: Read more at City of Angels: Salinas priest asks court to suppress evidence

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Read ongoing coverage of the Epidemic of Pedophile Priests in the Catholic Church at City of Angels Network