Rev. Anthony Odiong, the priest who was fired from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling last year, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday morning on a Texas warrant for possession of child pornography.
The Waco Police Department is also looking into reports that the Catholic priest sexually assaulted multiple people.
“Several women have come forward to tell similar stories to the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation in 2012,” Waco Detective Bradley DeLange said in a statement posted Tuesday.
“Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault, indecent assault — more commonly known as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.
Odiong could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. An attorney who had previously defended him could not be reached for comment.
Waco police launched an investigation in March after an alleged victim reported Odiong’s 2012 sexual abuse.
Odiong was the director of campus ministry at Baylor University’s St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center in Waco from 2007 to 2012, until joining St. Anthony in 2015.
While investigating the accusation, authorities acquired a search warrant for Odiong’s iCloud online data storage account, which revealed photographs of a child being sexually abused, according to The Guardian.
DeLang got a warrant to arrest Odiong for possession of child pornography. He was arrested at his home by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshals Service.
Odiong was being held at the Collier County Jail on Tuesday evening, pending extradition to Texas.
“If you have been victimized by Anthony Odiong anywhere in the United States, I need to hear from you,” DeLange reported. “You are not alone and you do not have to continue to live with the trauma of this experience alone.”
DeLange praised the individuals who have already come forward, assuring them that the department prioritizes respect for their experiences. If survivors do not wish to appear in court or have their names made public, they will not be forced to do so.
“The Waco Police Department stands ready to assist survivors no matter where they may be,” DeLange told reporters.
Odiong served as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling for eight years before being sacked by the Archdiocese of New Orleans in December 2023. At the time, Archdiocese officials stated that they were aware of “concerns… about Father Anthony’s ministry” that occurred before and potentially during his stay in Louisiana.
Odiong was accused of sexual and financial abuse by a woman, who filed a claim in the United States Bankruptcy Court as part of the Archdiocese’s Chapter 11 reorganization. The woman claimed Odiong, whom she had known since 2007, had a history of dominating, manipulative, and vulgar conduct.
After the claim was submitted, the Archdiocese of New Orleans alerted the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office since the victim stated that one of the acts took place in St. Charles.
According to a statement issued last year by the Sheriff’s Office, a detective who spoke with the woman in 2019 found that the sexual encounter in St. Charles Parish seemed to be consensual and did not constitute criminal conduct.
Odiong issued a public statement on Facebook in April, denying the claims made against him in St. Charles and accusing the woman of retaliation.
Odiong was fired from St. Anthony a month early after making insulting remarks about LGBTQ+ individuals and church divisions during a Nov. 26 Mass, telling the congregation, “We’re going to begin to bless all kinds of monkeys, animals, and chimpanzees.