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Table of Contents

84-Year-Old Former Priest Charged with Seven Counts of Illicit Sexual Conduct

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has returned an indictment against Richard Jude Daschbach, an 84-year-old former priest from Timor Leste, for allegedly engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minor victims in the country starting in 2013. Daschbach, who operated a shelter home for children in Timor Leste, faces up to 210 years in prison if convicted.

According to court documents, Daschbach’s alleged victims disclosed that he sexually abused them when they were children and resided in the shelter home. Daschbach was defrocked by the Catholic church after some of the victims disclosed the abuse to the church. He is currently facing related child sexual exploitation charges in Timor Leste and was previously indicted in 2019 for wire fraud in connection with his fundraising activity for the shelter home.

The indictment represents a significant step towards accountability for the harms suffered by the multiple vulnerable children allegedly victimized by Daschbach, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. for the Criminal Division. ‘I’d like to thank the hardworking investigative and prosecution teams for their work today and every day to ensure that child predators face justice and children are kept safe.’

‘This case shows that we will use the full extent of the law to prosecute U.S. citizens who allegedly prey on children, no matter how far we must go to bring them to justice,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia. ‘Together with our law enforcement partners, we must ensure that people placed in positions of trust do not betray their responsibilities to help the children who depend upon them.’

The FBI is investigating the case, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance. Trial Attorneys Jessica Urban and Alicia A. Bove of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Larson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Daschbach is charged with seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, Timor Leste, and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison per count if convicted. An indictment is merely an allegation, and Daschbach is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.