FLANDREAU, S.D. – Police picked up a former Catholic priest wanted in Winona County in a case of sexual misbehavior. A warrant for the arrest of Ubaldo Roque Huerta was issued in Winona after he skipped a court date in September. It was believed for a while that he fled and relocated in his hometown of Rushmore in southwest Minnesota. His arrest on April 25 was in Flambeau, population 2,300, across the South Dakota border about 90 miles from Rushmore. He has been held in the Moody County jail in Flambeau awaiting return to Minnesota. It’ll be a 315-mle trip shackled back to Winona.
Earlier: Cops stymied on finding ex-priest in sex case
Earlier: Ex-priest misses court date on sex charge
Huerta profile
Huerta was ordained as a priest for the Winona Catholic Diocese in 2008. He was immensely popular for flamboyant services in Spanish. He chose robust hymns, danced in the pews, and led worshippers in enthusiastic song, hand-clapping and revival-like merriment. His parish duties were cancelled by Bishop John Quinn in 2018 for reasons on which the Diocese never elaborated. Huerta lost his clerical status 2021, again without official elaboration. Huerta had served in these parishes: The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St. Casimir, in Winona; , St. Borromeo, in Charles; St. Aloysius, in Elba; Holy Redeemer, in Eyota, and St. Francis of Assisi. in Rochester. The sexual misconduct charge was filed after a man showed up corporeally bleeding and bruised at the emergency room at the Winona hospital.
Video: 2019 Spanish service
Video: 2019 Spanish service