Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church in Columbia Heights.

Photo by Mr.TinDC / Flickr

A former priest at Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church in Columbia Heights was arrested for the second time on Tuesday and charged with two additional counts of sexual abuse. Father Urbano Vazquez had already been arrested and charged with one count of sexual abuse against a 13-year-old girl in November. The Archdiocese of Washington  had removed Vazquez from his post weeks earlier, when the church became aware of the allegations against him.

The new charges include one count of second-degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, and one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse. The victims were a 9-year-old girl (now 11 years old) and an adult woman. The Washington Post was the first to report on the additional charges.

Vazquez turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday following the new charges. He had not been held in custody following the first charge. Vazquez appeared in court on Wednesday and a judge ordered him held pending a detention hearing on Thursday, when the court will decide whether he should be held in custody or let go before trial.

The new child sex abuse allegation stemmed directly from Vazquez’s first arrest. A student at Sacred Heart School, which is affiliated with Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church, told school officials and police that she’d heard about Vazquez’s arrest for child sexual abuse and wanted to make an additional report. According to a copy of Vazquez’s charging documents, the witness told officials that another student at the school (named in the charging documents only as Complainant #4) had told her that she’d been inappropriately touched by Vazquez. Complainant #4 told the witness about her experiences with Vazquez after learning that the priest had “hugged [the witness] and made her feel uncomfortable,” according to the charging documents.

Complainant #4 reported to police that Vazquez kissed her on the mouth and touched her inappropriately from the time she was nine years old until shortly after she turned 10. The girl told forensic investigators that Vazquez “made out” with her and touched private areas on her body. The abuse stopped only after the girl told her mother, and her mother confronted Vazquez, according to the documents.

The documents also describe incidents of abuse from two adult women, one of whom says Vazquez kissed her against her will, and another of whom says Vazquez placed his hand on her breast during confession. Vazquez is only facing charges in connection with the latter incident.

The new charging documents bring the number of allegations against Vazquez up to six. At the time of Vazquez’s first charge, two other girls came forward to say Vazquez had also abused them when they were teenagers, but no charges were pursued because the statute of limitations had expired in their cases.

Some of the abuse had allegedly been reported to leadership at Shrine of the Sacred Heart. After it came to light, Father Moises Villalta was removed from his post as priest and the church’s child protection coordinator, Sonia Marlene Aquino, was placed on administrative leave.