Priest on trial for sexual assault in Texas had child with Louisiana congregant, prosecutors say

DNA testing proved Anthony Odiong fathered child with woman to whom he had been providing spiritual guidance, authorities say Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Texas prosecutors on Thursday established that a Roman Catholic priest being tried there on charges that he illegally exploited his status as a cleric to pursue sex with three spiritually vulnerable congregants had a child with a separate congregant in approximately 2023 – while working outside New Orleans. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of one of those three women was unknown on Thursday ahead of her expected appearance on the witness stand, forcing prosecutors to dismiss charges in the case that were associated with her. That left Anthony Odiong, 57, faced with one charge of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second degree involving two women. He could receive life imprisonment if convicted of first-degree sexual assault. Those explosive developments unfolded on the third day of Odiong’s trial at a state courthouse in Waco, Texas, where he worked before being transferred to Luling, Louisiana. While building the case being tried against Odiong, then Waco police department employee Meli