Ex-church choir leader accused of sex abuse

Ex-church choir leader arrested amid sex allegations

Published 5:30 am, Friday, May 13, 2005

The Catholic Church is wrestling with another sex abuse scandal involving a former choir director at one of its parishes in Houston.

Police this week arrested German Rojas Moreno, 43, a former parishioner and choir director at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church at 8200 Roos in southwest Houston.

Moreno, of the 9200 block of Burdine, is charged with two counts of indecency with a child, two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, Houston police said. He is accused of molesting five teenage boys between 1997 and 2001, whose families he befriended at the church, investigators said.

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He was released fromthe Harris County Jail after posting bonds totaling $60,000.

None of the alleged assaults happened at the church, where Moreno was a paid employee while working there as choir director, said Investigator Michelle Gallagher of the Houston Police Department Juvenile Sex Crimes unit. Police aren't sure how long Moreno served in that capacity.

However, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston says that Moreno was never a paid employee and was only with the choir on a volunteer basis.

``There was never a check cut for this man. He was not on the payroll,'' said archdiocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor.

Church officials told police Moreno left the parish about a year ago after he had a falling out with the new choir director, Gallagher said.

The investigation began just last month when the five victims, who