well. vela was relatively new to corpus christi church in fremont. recently transferred from st. john s catholic church in san lorenzo. detectives say that s when he met the 14 to 15-year-old male victim who told them the abuse began in 2016 and lasted about 18 months. as shocking and as unbelievable as this is that this has occurred a lot in the catholic church. reporter: parishioners at st. john s say church members read a statement about the arrest at the end of today s 2:00 p.m. mass. they didn t give any specifics on what he had been arrested for, but they did mention something about the congregation or just the catholic church dealing with abuse. reporter: church members say while they are upset to hear about the allegations, they re not surprised. very sadly it s like oh another one. whereas before it s like maybe we need to go somewhere else. every church almost i think that could happen, but it s one person. it s good that they right away told everybody
in san lorenzo. that victim, a 14 to 15-year- old boy. according to detectives, the victim told them hector david mendoza-vela started abusing him in 2016. he was recently transferred to the corpus christi catholic church in fremont. alameda county sheriff s detectives say they do not believe the catholic diocese knew about the abuse allegations. parishioners here in san lorenzo say this type of abuse is not shocking anymore. very sadly it s like oh, another one. every church almost i think that could happen. but it s one person, and it s good that they right away told everybody. reporter: the people we talked with who attended the 2 pm mass set a member of the church read a statement at the end of the service announcing hector david mendoza-vela had been arrested and asked any other potential victims to contact police. the bishop of oakland released a statement saying: well we don t have all the details, the alleged behavior is in clear violation of the diocese code of
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is presenting a perfect introduction to Shakespeare’s work for young audiences with a 75-minute abridgement of Romeo and Juliet, adapted and directed by Mikael Burke. See production photos here!