Spanish
SANTO DOMINGO.- A judge in Santiago Rodríguez imposed house arrest, financial guarantee, and a travel ban on the Catholic priest Ancelmo Alejandro Peña Sánchez, accused of sexual abuse.
The Public Ministry had requested three months of prison in a penitentiary, in addition to an economic guarantee of 500 thousand pesos through an insurance company. The hearing was headed by Judge Norma Zapata, from the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services, and was attended by the prosecutors Rafael Antonio Bueno and Denis Guzmán. Protection measures were also issued in favor of the victim and her family.
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The court rejected the request for dismissal of the criminal action due to statute of limitations, filed by the technical defense, considering it untimely and unfounded, as it is a presumed continuing offense. The judge pointed out that the date on which the offense ceased must be taken into account, which was not specified by the defense.
When assessing the elements presented, the judge considered that there were sufficient grounds to impose the restrictive measures of freedom. The chief prosecutor of Santiago Rodríguez, "Sumaya Rodríguez Matías", reaffirmed the Public Ministry's commitment to the protection of victims' rights, ensuring that the case is handled with due sensitivity and rigor.
Peña Sánchez was arrested by court order and brought to justice following complaints from several victims, including two women who reported having been assaulted from the ages of 12 and 14, a fact that allegedly lasted for several years. One of the victims formalized the complaint on September 12, 2025, indicating that the abuse continued even into her adulthood. According to her testimony, she met the priest in Villa Los Almácigos, Santiago Rodríguez province, when he was the parish priest of the Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen, and that Peña Sánchez gained the trust of her family to commit the abuse through manipulation, intimidation, and threats.
The facts were legally qualified as a violation of articles 309-1, 330, 331, 333-1, 2 and 332, which sanction aggression, rape and sexual harassment, as well as article 396 of the Code for the Protection System and the Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents.
During the investigation, authorized raids were carried out on the accused's properties, where photographs of victims and various electronic objects (DVDs, phones, and memory cards) were seized, which will be analyzed by the corresponding authorities.
The Public Ministry reported that investigations into the case are ongoing.
