Bail Dropped For Former Seminarian

KIMA

Story Published: Apr 22, 2008 at 6:55 PM PST

By Valerie Hurst

YAKIMA--
Juan's attorney says Oregon prosecutors trust Juan will show up to his hearing there.
The 80,000 dollar hold on him is gone, so he is no longer considered a fugitive.
And it looks like those kiddie porn charges...are up for debate too.

A major development in a story that shook the local Catholic diocese.
Prosecutors in Oregon now say they trust Juan Gonzalez will show up to his hearing in June.

"There's no need for a bail there's certainly no need for 80,000 bail..."

Juan's facing 5-year-old charges he looked at kiddie porn at an Oregon seminary.
He says he's innocent, and that the diocese set him up.
His attorney JJ Sandlin won't say much on the status of those porn charges, except that he's on amicable terms with Marion county prosecutors.
He says... they're negotiating

"I don't know what charges are holding and that's up to negotiations if any charges will be holding we'll see what happens..." Sandlin tells us.

Prosecutors won't talk till suspects are arraigned, so we tried again...

(reporter) "But at this time the kiddie porn charges do stand?"
"I haven't seen with any specificity that the charges stand but we'll show up in June and see what happens," Sandlin says.

"We'd certainly be very happy for Juan if the charges were dropped," diocese chief of staff Father Robert Siler tells Action News.

Siler was in court for the extradition hearing.
He says he and the bishop are happy for Juan...
But the diocese denies any set-up.

"We have not put Juan Gonzalez in jail he's the one who was charged in Oregon," Siler added.

Siler says the bishop never stopped caring for Juan or his family.
He says the diocese wants a 'good ending' to this investigation.

We want to make it clear, Juan's still in jail for now.
He has to worry about his immigration status, since his religious visa expired.
A Tacoma judge will rule on that issue in the next week or so.
Juan's attorney is confident that hold will be lifted as well.

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