Former priest guilty of sexually abusing SC child is going to prison, prosecutor says

Noah Feit
·4 min read
2

A former South Carolina priest who pleaded guilty to a sex crime involving an 11-year-old boy was sentenced to more than 21 years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, a 69-year-old known as “Father Gonzalez,” was sentenced to federal prison following a conviction for transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual acts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday in a news release.

In August, Gonzalez-Farias pleaded guilty to the charge in a Columbia, South Carolina, courtroom, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Gonzalez-Farias served as a Catholic priest since at least 1990, including in South Carolina from 2015 until his suspension by Catholic authorities in late 2020, according to the release. Gonzalez-Farias was a visiting priest from Chile employed by the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, The State previously reported.

He most recently served at parishes in Newberry and Laurens counties, but also served in parishes in Florida and New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

About the case

In early 2020, Gonzalez-Farias met the 11-year-old victim and his family through his position as a priest, according to the news release. The victim is the younger brother of a seminarian at what was Gonzalez-Farias’ parish in Laurens County, The State previously reported.

Gonzalez-Farias began giving high levels of attention to the child, including giving gifts such as clothes, shoes and a cellphone that he used to communicate with the victim, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Major, who spoke at a 2023 plea hearing, said that Gonzalez-Farias used an encrypted messaging platform to talk with his victim.

“Florida is waiting for Mr. Cricket and Mr. Wildfire,” Gonzalez-Farias messaged his victim, using nicknames he had invented for them. The State reported that Gonzalez-Farias urged the victim to be good so that his parents would agree to let the boy spend time with the priest and travel with him to Florida.

Investigators learned that in November 2020, the priest took the victim to Florida alone under the pretense of a beach vacation. During that trip, Gonzales-Farias masturbated in front of the victim, attempted to sexually assault him and showed the victim pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Investigators uncovered numerous text messages and WhatsApp messages sent by the priest to the minor, according to the release.

Again in November 2020, the child’s family reported to Catholic authorities their concern that the priest’s relationship with the child was inappropriate, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Church authorities suspended Gonzalez-Farias and made a report to the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office and FBI Columbia field office, according to the release.

After his arrest by FBI agents on Nov. 28, 2022, at Miami International Airport, Gonzalez-Farias admitted that he touched the victim’s genitals in Florida, showed the victim pornography and showered with the victim in South Carolina, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

FBI agents searched Gonzales-Farias’s devices, and the contents showed a continued interest in minors, according to the release.

Details of the former priest’s sentencing

Gonzalez-Farias was sentenced to 262 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. There is no parole in the federal system.

The maximum punishment Gonzalez-Farias faced was life in prison.

Gonzalez-Farias will also have to register as a sex offender, and he was ordered to pay restitution to the victim for losses incurred as a result of his conduct, according to the release. The victim came from an “immigrant family of limited means,” prosecutors said in court.

The case was investigated by the FBI and Laurens County Sheriff’s Office, while Major and fellow Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels prosecuted the case. Gonzalez-Farias was represented by Federal Public Defender Jenny Smith.

When the church was warned

Church officials previously received two warnings about Gonzalez-Farias’s behavior, prosecutors said at a hearing in March 2023.

In 2017, a parishioner allegedly sent a picture of Gonzalez-Farias taking a young boy with him on a trip to Walmart, Daniels said. The following year, a woman expressed concern to church officials over Gonzalez-Farias’ relationship with her 10- and 12-year-old nephews, according to Daniels.

In particular, she said that she was concerned by the attention Gonzalez-Farias showed the 10-year-old “behind closed doors,” Daniels said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston said it was “made aware of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor involving visiting priest Father Jaime Gonzalez-Farias in December 2020, after he had left the country for his home in Chile.”