Bolivian priest sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing young woman in 2017

A court in Tarija, Bolivia, convicted Fr. Jorge Luis “Coco” Machicado, 51, of sexual abuse and sentenced him to eight years in prison. The Court of Anti-Corruption and Violence against Women in Tarija handed down the sentence for abuse of a young woman in 2017. He will serve his sentence at the Morros Blancos penal unit, also in Tarija. The sentence makes Machicado the third priest convicted in the past year.

In statements published on the website of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, departmental prosecutor Sandra Gutiérrez described the case’s procedural steps. After the victim, who is from Cochabamba, filed a complaint for sexual abuse, the case proceeded through a psychological report, witness testimony, the presentation of evidence, and the defendant’s response. The defendant was then formally charged. Gutiérrez said the trial began a week before the sentence was issued, and that all evidence heard by the judicial authority was presented during it.

The prosecutor who handled the case, Jeannette Rodríguez, said the abuse occurred on October 17, 2017, in the municipality of Tarija, during a Family Congress that the young woman attended with a friend. At the close of the event, the two went to speak with the priest to thank him. According to the prosecution, the priest took advantage of a moment when the friend had left to abuse the young woman.

The young woman did not report the incident until 2023, after a scandal involving abuse by church personnel erupted in Bolivia. She then decided to file a complaint, and the priest was arrested days later. Her decision to speak after six years, when public attention to church abuse had grown, reflects the protection owed to those who have been harmed (Psalm 82:3).

In March, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported 22 cases of sexual abuse in the country involving 48 priests.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)