Fr. James Moreno – Archdiocese of Denver

| Dec 2, 2020 | Abuser Profiles, Catholic Church

Father James Moreno

Archdiocese of Denver

Ordained: 1976

Retired: 2013

Initiated process to Laicize: 2019

Assigned as follows:

  • Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Denver, CO)
  • Our Lady Parish (Denver, CO)
  • St. Andrew Preparatory Seminary High School (Denver, CO)

Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father James Moreno:

Father James Moreno was ordained a priest in 1976, and served in multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver. According to media reports, in December 2020, the Attorney General’s Office released a supplemental report of the allegations made in the Colorado Dioceses’ voluntary compensation fund. According to the report, Fr. James Moreno was one of the newly identified priests who served in the Denver Archdiocese.

Among the allegations documented in the files of the Archdiocese of Denver was one against a priest, Fr. James Moreno. According to the report, Fr. James Moreno was the subject of a report that he was engaging in ‘grooming’ behavior with a 15-year-old freshman boy at St. Andrew’s Preparatory Seminary High School in Denver, Colorado. Fr. Moreno served as a Spiritual Director at St. Andrew’s Preparatory Seminary High School in Denver.

When the teenage boy later attended Bishop Machebeuf High School in Denver, Fr. James Moreno continued to abuse the victim. According to the report, the victim was abused in various areas at St. Andrew’s, including bedrooms and offices. In addition, Moreno sexually abused this boy in the rectory at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, in Moreno’s car, and in a house where Moreno lived.

Moreno sexually abused the victim at least 60 times before the boy turned 18 years old.

According to the report, Moreno sexually abused the victim from 1978-1980 when the boy was 15-17 years old.

In 2019, Moreno admitted he sexually abused the victim when he was accused of doing so.

Moreno had medically retired from priesthood 6 years before the victim reported the sexual abuse incident. However, when the report was received through the IRRP in 2019, the Denver Archdiocese reported the abuse to law enforcement and initiated an independent investigation which resulted in the process to laicize Moreno.

Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver in Colorado. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Colorado, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Colorado and nationwide. We can help.

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