WINONA, Minn. – A former Catholic priest accused of raping a man-friend has been scheduled to appear in court September 8 in Winona. Ubaldo Roque Huerta, 50, who now lives in Rushmore in far southwest Minnesota, has been charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual assault. Conviction could mean one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Huerta has denied the allegations, investigators said. These are details alleged in the criminal complaint:
In December 2020 Huerta texted a friend he hadn’t seen jn three years that they should get together alone at his house for a drink. Although he was in the process of being defrocked, Huerta suggested he still was a priest and didn’t want others to see him drinking. The two each drank a bottle of tequila. At one point the other man ended up wearing only boxers, and later surmised that Huerta had something to do with that. The man told Huerta that they needed to throw up and went to the bathroom. Huerta kept following the man around the house, despite being told to stop. Huertas then followed him into a bedroom, where he performed penetrative and oral acts. The victim needed medical treatment for rectal pain
Huerta profile
Huerta was ordained in Winona under Bishop John Quinn in 2008. Since 2018 he had been in the process of being removed from the priesthood, a process called “laicization.” This also was under Quinn. Why Quinn acted against Huerta was never announced. At the time, Huerta was packing his Spanish-language services with energetic parishioner involvement, jubilant dancing in the pews, and curing spiritual and sometimes physical ailments with Pentecostal-style laying of hands. Quinn’s successor as bishop, Robert Barron, confirmed on August 11, when Heura was charged, the laicization process had been underway four years. Huera’s church duties had ended, however, in 2019.