A 51-year-old defrocked priest from Riverside County is in a heap of trouble with the law, due to his alleged sale of drugs.
Anthony Martinez Garduno, the self-proclaimed Catholic priest at Home Gardens church was charged today with one felony and misdemeanor count each of possession of a controlled substance for sale, two felony counts of possession of controlled substances and one felony count of possession of stolen property. Garduno pleaded not guilty to all the charges. A preliminary hearing for Garduno was tentatively set for Jan. 14.
Garduno was arrested late Tuesday after deputies found evidence to indicate he was selling methamphetamines from his church. Investigators had executed a search warrant at the church and had also located evidence of possible sexual assaults having occurred at the church, in addition to the evidence of him selling narcotics.
"This is a very evil man who hid behind the good book to take advantage of little boys," said Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department to NBC News.
The crime seems quite unthinkable for a clergyman, yet the Riverside County Sheriff's Department has a stacked amount of evidence for his alleged crimes. If convicted, Garduno will not only go to prison, but he will be quite unpopular with the Catholic community in Southern California. He'll certainly need a skilled criminal attorney in Los Angeles or Riverside to prove that he isn't guilty of the charges.
Garduno is currently being held behind bars on $250,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center.
- Defrocked Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Felony Charges (KTLA News)
- Criminal attorneys in Los Angeles (FindLaw)
- Drug Possession (FindLaw)
