Fr. Urbano Vazquez Found Guilty, SNAP Responds

A priest who had been accused of abusing at least two young girls in Washington D.C. has been found guilty. We are grateful for this verdict and again applaud the two young victims who testified in open court last week.

The bravery and courage of these young survivors should not have been needed in the first place, but we are glad that their testimony helped secure a guilty verdict against Fr. Urbano Vazquez. We hope that this verdict will encourage anyone who may have seen or suspected crimes by Fr. Vazquez or any other priest, nun, deacon or bishop to stand up and speak out. As these two young survivors have shown, speaking out is hard but it can lead to justice and prevention.

We hope that when he is sentenced that Fr. Vazquez will be giving the maximum possible sentence. Being abused carries a life sentence of pain and trauma and so we hope that a harsh punishment given to Fr. Vazquez can deter other potential abusers from preying on children in the future.  

CONTACT: Becky Ianni, SNAP Board Member and Volunteer Virginia / Washington D.C. Leader ([email protected], 703-801-6044), Zach Hiner, Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

SNAP Network is a GuideStar Gold Participant