back to that breaking news we brought
you at the top of this newscast the
Montgomery County District Attorney's
Office holding a news conference outside
the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston
let's listen patron saint of children is
st. Nicholas and I think that it's just
kind of apropos that in this holiday
season Saint Nicholas is also known as
Santa Claus well Santa Claus is here to
tell you that the state of Texas will go
to any lengths necessary to protect
children and whether it's a search
warrant at the Salone Center with a
search warrant Fort Bend County at the
Catholic Church there or at my home
Church Sacred Heart in Conroe we're
going to go wherever the investigation
requires us to go and today it brought
us here and we're here for records we're
here to find out all the employment
records potential disciplinary records
anything that would give us a greater
picture of potential disciplinary
history or anything that will lead us to
extraneous offenses or other crimes or
other or other wrongdoings is why we're
here so even though the Catholic Church
has cooperated to a degree and I
appreciate that the state of Texas is
not required to go through the Catholic
Church for its cooperation the state of
Texas is its own sovereign in the state
of Texas is the one who's there to
prosecute these cases on behalf of
children and so we've spoken with
Cardinal DiNardo and he has been
cooperative and I take him at his word
that he is trying to be transparent and
obviously he didn't know the search
warrant was gonna be here today and I'm
sure this took a lot of people off guard
but that's part of the intent of a
search warrant I'm not here to gain the
cooperation of the Catholic Church we're
here to gain records for a successful
investigation and prosecution of a
criminal defendant in Montgomery County
so we have multiple agencies so as a
local district attorney our
investigation is focused on father dela
Rosa now look if you our investigation
is focused on father Adela Rosa and so
if you find additional evidence we have
other agencies here we have federal
agencies as well as the Texas Rangers
there's a reason that we have the Texas
Rangers here because if some of this
investigation leads to other counties
within Montgomery County or within the
state of Texas or if there's other other
potential victims I can't make the
helicopter stop I'm sorry
helicopters if y'all could fly off if
you can hear me from here but our
investigation is focused on father man
anywhere it goes after that we turn over
to the Texas Rangers where we turn over
to the appropriate federal agency
we're staying in our lane
so if you're executing a search warrant
and you know the documents are kept in
one area I think that just you know good
investigation technique is to go with a
place where you know the documents are
as opposed to when they get transferred
off-site we were aware of those
conversations I was aware of everything
the media was reporting that there was a
group that perhaps a lot of these
documents that we wanted we're gonna be
sent out to outside areas and it's just
easier for me to go to one place of
course this is our fourth stop and along
the way church officials have told us
records are kept here they're kept down
here in Houston and so one of the things
that I've tried to convey to people is
for example if Cardinal DiNardo is
cooperative that doesn't mean the people
that work with Cardinal Bernardo are
cooperative
it doesn't mean that they're going to
tell him the truth and so it very well
may be on position where he wants to
give us documents but he doesn't know
that they exist and so we're being very
very careful to to explain to people
look one of the reasons why the Cardinal
was not part of this investigation he
can be transparent all he wants and he
can cooperate all he wants but what he
doesn't know he doesn't know and the
good thing is I've taken the burden off
of everybody in the Catholic Church they
don't have to know anything I'm gonna
find it all out
I am a I'm a Catholic myself and so this
is not a search warrant against the
Catholic Church what this is is a search
warrant to review files that belong to a
defendant and so oftentimes people out
of a good motive do a bad thing my gift
and what I told the people out there is
my gift is I'm born suspicious as hell
and so I assume that people are going to
lie to me I assume that people are not
going to tell the truth I assume that
people are going to hide evidence which
is why you have to have a state of Texas
that's its own sovereignty and does not
require cooperation of any white-collar
defendant or any employer and Phil we're
treating a Catholic Church in the same
way we treat a bank that has records in
the way that we treat a criminal
enterprise and not to cast aspersions
but I don't need their cooperation when
I take everything then I'll tell them
what I need and what I don't need and
that way you vetted it and that way
there's no concern that these victims
are getting shortchanged in any way
whatsoever
well I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I
am a suspicious person I think I've
already addressed that when you're
concerned about a cover-up I've done
four search warrants starting in Fort
Bend County the salom Center in
Montgomery County Sacred Heart and now
I'm here if there's something to be
covered up I'm sure I'll find it people
cooperate there are so many lay
Catholics out there that are ready for
the church to come clean and I am a lay
Catholic myself but today I stand here
is the District Attorney of Montgomery
County and so I don't trifle with fools
and I don't trifle with conspiracy
theories we're here to execute a search
warrant and whether it's a thumbdrive or
it's a pickup truck or whether it's a
DPS van full of stuff we're going to
take everything that we believe is
pertinent to our case so the federal
agencies are here obviously I've been
speaking with Ryan Patrick with the US
Attorney's Office we have a great
relationship he is aware of what's going
on today we're gonna be reporting with
him and any information that we have
that would be importance to him we're
gonna turn over to his office
yes they have yeah yes they have that's
independent that's at the nationwide
level I'm one County out of 254 and
Harris County happens to be where my
investigation led me if it led me to
roam we'd be at the Vatican today so I
think what people's definition of
cooperation is is different and my man
when we've charged somebody I like
people to voluntarily come to me and
turn over boxes of stuff and so even
though the Catholic Church has
cooperated locally in my mind I would
have just like to been given the keys on
day one and brought in on a voluntary
basis
Tyler gunman and I came down here a
couple of weeks ago to introduce
ourselves to a host of attorneys and so
having to go through the attorneys I
understand it as an attorney myself it's
not the type of cooperation that I would
hope for but it's the type of
cooperation now to expect with a
sophisticated company
which are grade here would be inaccurate
I think that that's inaccurate I think
that the term rate is inaccurate this is
a lawfully executed search warrant
even if we had one victim this is where
we'd have been today and so additional
victims come forward if there are
offenses that can be charged we charge
them if their offenses they can be used
as extraneous offenses for on the
punishment side of things or to
cooperate a prior victim debts that's
more the courtroom strategy and I'd like
to stay away from that I don't have any
problem with dressing while we're here
for the search warrant but whether it
was one or a hundred if there were
victims in Montgomery County I think
anybody that knows the Montgomery County
whether it's cybercrime child porn
pedophilia we're just gonna be
aggressive and regardless of whether the
cases take us is where we're going to
get the evidence
and so we've charged father Manny with
two counts at this point with two
separate victims two counts per victim
I just do not talk about the court case
I don't mind address in the search
warrant
so I've talked to chief acevedo this
morning spoke with district attorney Kim
Hogg this morning as a courtesy to let
him know that we were here both of them
pledged in the assistance that I needed
but I felt like with the 60 or so people
we brought that we'd be able to handle
whatever load that we had
we've got cano Police Department that's
the tip of the spear this is their
investigation we've got a district
attorney's office personnel from
Montgomery County we have a text
Department Public Safety the Texas
Rangers and then unknown or unnamed but
they're known to me but unnamed federal
agencies it was about 9:30 this morning
the warrant was reviewed approximately
8:30 the Texas Rangers took it to Harris
County district court judge and we
staged and we serve the warrant and
frankly the people inside this is
upsetting to them and so once again my
mission part of the statement is you
know it does no good to be a
representative of law enforcement and to
lose the will of the people
this is not a shot at Catholic
parishioners and this is not a shot at
the Catholic Church this is an
investigation into a Catholic priest who
was employed by the Catholic Church and
this church happens to be holding those
records
the the church has cooperated we were
prepared for two full days I have a
feeling that with the cooperation we're
receiving now that we're gonna be
accelerated we should be through by
today there's a lot of Records but you
never know and like I said whether it
was gonna be a thumb drive or a truck
we're not required to go through those
documents at a pace that's that fits the
employer we can then take those those
records back to us but because the
church is cooperating the local General
Counsel who is a has been cooperative
with Tyler and I we've got him going
through some records right now what we
don't want to do is get so far afield of
our investigation that they end up with
a bunch of files that are just in
digital drama that are personnel files
and employee files they have nothing new
with criminal investigation or with our
defendant
I don't want to comment on that case I
don't mind talking about the search
warrant itself just the fourth so for so
our I'm sorry
for when we when we conduct child sex
crimes you would it's not unusual do
multiple search warrants we've gone to
other counties to execute search
warrants the fact of the this is a high
profile location but in regards to child
sex cases oftentimes when you're dealing
with digital evidence and it's shipped
across the internet and so some people
may maintain a server sometimes the
server may be on-site or off-site but
but for is at any minimum it should
address the possibility that there's a
cover-up for search warrants is fairly
thorough but like I said if it leads us
to the Vatican I'll be headed to Rome so
we had the to Fort Bend County Church
the Sacred Heart Church in Conroe the
Shalom Center in Splendora and this our
fourth location that's where I was
married yes
well it was nice to see familiar faces
but they all know that the district
attorney might when I'm there on a
Sunday my role is to worship when I'm
there on a Monday through Friday my job
is to is to investigate thoroughly and
that's what we do and I'm able to like
most people here everybody here is
layers most people here are parishioners
practitioners of their own faith but
you're also in the news media and if
you're required to call upon a story
that impacts you locally you're a
journalist first and I'm the district
attorney first and I've had to make that
very clear to people
build by Elsa has great hair by the way
no no our search warrant had been you
can't get 60 people to gather it at
church is chicken on a Monday night and
say hey let's do a raid it doesn't or a
search warrant it doesn't work like that
so this has been an often for a while
more charges comin down
we're people involved wherever they so
it's all open-ended wherever the
evidence goes if we find more victims
they'd be interviewed and if they appear
to be credible there's something that
they can that within the statute of
limitations can be charged we would
charge it the good thing is when you're
looking at what's called extraneous
offenses they don't have to fit within a
statute of limitations
they can also be extraneous offenses of
criminal conduct conduct or bad acts
anything along those lines that would be
material to a jury to determine whether
or not a defendant is either guilty or
the appropriate punishment would be
things that would certainly be
interested in
man I don't even have a good question
for that we're still running this case
hot and so everything we're looking for
we're staying in our lane we're throwing
wide elbows my lane is pretty wide and
it takes me wherever it takes me
but what that said if you know I mean
there may have been some harsh words
exchanged but you know in this line of
work you expect a few elbows to be
thrown
so anywhere that this investigation
takes this is where we'll go or where
we've been or where we were yet to go so
I will tell you anywhere that this
investigation and any evidence that we
gained as part of this investigation
this search warrant or any of the search
warrants if it has a material bearing on
the criminal conduct or on the
punishment is where we will go it might
not it just depends on what we get here
which would be like a mmm it could be
seven overtimes could be seven search
warrants we don't we don't know there's
no limit it there's just a limit as to
when the evidence stops and every time
we execute a search warrant we're
getting new documents and new evidence
it could be small it could be large you
know I mean electronic data is
compressed and so when I first started
we'd get two or three boxes and now
people hand it to me on a thumb drive so
I prefer to have it on a thumb drive but
I'll take the old-fashioned boxes as
well so we've been known to in the past
we've been known to take computers
cables hopes dreams whatever it takes it
has a bearing on the criminal case
usually it's when people don't cooperate
that will take everything including the
cable box if that's what's necessary
when people cooperate then we can leave
computers there sometimes we'll leave a
hard drive there sometimes the limits a
hard drive so why that depends on what
type of cooperation we're getting when
it comes to a particular file and so I
don't want to tie myself down as to what
we're doing inside today
right now it's been fine the employees
have been nervous understandably upset
that you'd have a large law enforcement
presence that would show up and so I did
my best to explain to him exactly what
the mission was let the individual
employees know that they were not
target's of the investigation and so
along the way you know if there is a
secret vault and it's full of documents
that we believe pertain to our
investigation will take an entire secret
vaults worth of documents if those been
compressed to a CD or a thumb drive
we'll take that so I don't want to tie
myself down to I don't know what we're
gonna find in there I just know what
we've already found and we'll be here
all day
so I'm here to talk about the search
warrant so our criminal investigation is
ongoing and thorough and wherever it
goes it will go but the grand jury is a
great
I just I'm here to talk about the search
warrant
so that's not my idea that's canon law
and so every archdiocese is required to
maintain a vault of these the
Pennsylvania Attorney vania attorney
general's office has been very helpful
and kind of helping us structure some of
what we're looking for and not getting
to the myths or the mythology of what
the Catholic Church is it wouldn't
matter to me if it was our Capone's
vault brawled Rivera was standing there
it wouldn't matter to me if it was a
floor safe it wouldn't matter to me
if the secret vault was nothing more
than a secretary with a key on an old
wooden desk the term of what it is it's
not as important as to what type of
documents that were finding and so this
is a search on to the documents not
dispelling or creating mythology in the
Catholic Church
okay all right thank you I appreciate it
and you've been listening to Montgomery
County district attorney Brett Ligon
updating reporters at the scene talking
about the search warrant that was served
at the archdiocese headquarters in
downtown Houston this morning this is
all related to the child sex abuse case
against father Manuel LaRussa
Lopez the archdiocese has just released
a statement this coming into our
newsroom a few minutes ago
it reads in part the Archdiocese of
Galveston Houston continues to cooperate
as we have since the outset with this
process in fact consistent with cardinal
de Nardo's pledge of full cooperation
the information being sought was already
being compiled