Authorities with the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office have arrested a 47-year-old priest for sexual offenses, said Marty Folding, public affairs officer with the department.
Father Edgar Sepulveda was charged with one count of second degree sexual offense and one count of sexual battery. The victim is a juvenile male, Folding said.
Sepulveda, who is part of the Raleigh Diocese of North Carolina and a St. Beulaville, N.C., resident, was visiting church members in Brunswick County in May when the offenses occurred, Folding said.
Sepulveda has been placed under a $100,000 secured bond.
He is the pastor of Maria Reina de las Americas Parish in Mount Olive, N.C., and a supervising pastor of Mission Parish of Santa Clara in Magnolia, N.C., according to the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh Web site.
The Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Raleigh, announced Friday that he has suspended the priestly faculty of Sepulveda.
The diocese announced in September that Sepulveda had been placed on administrative leave after receiving an allegation of sexual abuse. Church officials said at the time that an investigation was being pursued.
The diocese said that a criminal background check was completed prior to Sepulveda’s first appointment in the diocese in 2004 and a second background check was completed prior to his incardination in the diocese in 2006. Both background checks, the diocese said, displayed no criminal record.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
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