Former Lodi priest arrested for child porn in Portugal

A former Catholic priest who once served the Diocese of Stockton and in Lodi has been arrested overseas on child pornography charges.

Oliver O’Grady, 74, was arrested in the Algarve area of Portugal on Oct. 21 on a European arrest warrant out of Ireland, according to The Irish Mirror.

O’Grady is expected to be returned to Ireland this week, the Mirror said, and his arrest may relate to a complaint made by an organization dealing with child abuse that tipped off authorities.

John Manly, a sexual abuse attorney who represented about half a dozen of O’Grady’s victims, said the discovery of similar molestation allegations is not over.

“This is not the first time, or the last time, you’re going to be hearing about Stockton priests being sent overseas in an attempt to escape justice,” Manly said. “Oliver O’Grady will abuse children until the day he dies. Every day that he is in custody is a day that a kid can’t be hurt.”

After being ordained by the Catholic Church in his native Ireland, O’Grady immigrated to California and served with the Diocese of Stockton from 1971 to 1993. He served at St. Anne’s

Catholic Church in Lodi from 1971 to 1978.

In 1984, O’Grady’s therapist reported him to Child Protective Services for molesting children, but investigators with the Stockton Police Department were unable to confirm the abuse.

Nine years later, O’Grady would plead guilty to molesting two young brothers in San Andreas. He was sentenced to 14 years at Mule Creek State Prison on four counts of sexual abuse with children younger than 14, and was deported back to Ireland shortly after his parole in 2000.

O’Grady later moved to the Netherlands, where he had assumed the name Brother Francis. While there, he volunteered at a parish and organized birthday parties at a McDonald's restaurant.

In 2010, someone recognized him and reported him to police, so O’Grady returned to Ireland. He was soon arrested in Dublin after he left his laptop on the Aer Lingus flight that brought him home.

A staff member examined the computer and alerted police after discovering suspicious files. Police found nearly 280,000 images of child pornography on the laptop, and in 2012, he was sentenced to three years in prison.

In 2016, he was living in the Irish city of Waterford when the news outlet The Sun discovered he was living next to a playground. In 2018, the Catholic Church also warned Waterford residents about O'Grady's presence, the Irish news site the Journal reported.

O’Grady was the subject of a 2016 Netflix documentary titled “Deliver Us From Evil,” where he admitted in a videotaped deposition that he molested at least 25 children during his time in California.

Manly said O’Grady’s ability to flee the country is the fault of former bishops Roger Mahoney and Stephen Blair, as well as current Bishop Myron J. Cotta, adding the diocese should “come clean and tell the truth” about where other priests guilty of molestation can be located.

He noted Michael Kelly, another priest who served the Diocese of Stockton and was accused of molestation, was also allowed to return to his native Ireland following a lawsuit.

Kelly was found guilty of three counts of molestation in 2012 involving a victim at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford. The abuse allegedly occurred in the mid1980s.

Soon after the verdict, Kelly fled to his native Ireland. Manly, who represented Kelly’s victim, said the former priest has not been located since.

“(Kelly)’s still at large,” Manly said. “The Diocese of Stockton is still paying O’Grady and Kelly their retirement. Why? I think the Diocese believes because they filed bankruptcy that they’re out of the woods, and they are not.”

The Diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after paying out more than $15 million to settle nearly two dozen sexual abuse claims over a 20year period.

A representative of the Diocese did not return a phone call seeking comment Monday.