On August 18, police in the state of Amazonas arrested Rev. Paulo Araújo da Silva, 31, at the presbytery of the San Pedro Church in Coari, a small town and diocese near the Amazon River, Brazil.
Araújo da Silva is accused of impregnating a 17-year-old girl and then forcing her to abort the child in 2023 using a chemical poison (misoprostol). The age of consent in Brazil is 14.
The murdered child was buried in the backyard of a friend of the priest.
The girl denounced Araújo da Silva, claiming that he 'threatened' her and 'forced' her to have sex with him, which is unlikely. She also reported that he recorded the sexual intercourse and saved the videos on a computer.
The head of the police operation stated that the teenager had sex with the priest from the age of 14 and became pregnant at the age of 17.
When Araújo da Silva was arrested, he was in bed with a woman who had just turned 18.
Police confiscated 30,000 reais ($5,400) in cash from the priest's room, 260 videos of sex scenes with teenagers on his mobile phone and the priest's notebook.
Last Friday, a transvestite calling himself "Lorena Marques", an employee of the Catholic parish (sic), was arrested in the area of Coari.
He is suspected of luring girls to Araújo da Silva. The transvestite is accused of sexual exploitation and criminal association.
A 34-year-old man was also arrested for supplying the priest with abortion poison and helping to bury the foetus.
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