Maricela Ibarra chats among a flock of Catholic parishioners outside a Salinas courtroom after seeing her pastor, normally clad in holy robes, arraigned in handcuffs and a white and orange jumpsuit for allegedly molesting and sodomizing a 16-year-old boy. Ibarra says she first met Rev. Antonio Cortes when he married her sister and brother-in-law in 1998. Later, Cortes encouraged Ibarra’s nephew to play soccer and often cheered him on at games from the sidelines. “He has been a very good pastor,” she says.

Ibarra, like the 100 devotees here, believes Cortes is innocent. She says Cortes’ accuser is out for money, despite incriminating evidence against the priest.

The latest discovery of numerous underage porn videos on Cortes’ laptop led the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office to file two felony counts of possession of child pornography on top of the original felony and 12 misdemeanor charges.

According to Deputy District Attorney Rolando Mazariegos, Cortes began giving “spiritual massages” to a young male at Greenfield’s Holy Trinity Catholic Church about two years ago. Cortes allegedly asked the then 14-year-old boy to lie down while he rubbed his body, and would offer the teenager brandy.

Their relationship continued when Cortes took over as head pastor of East Salinas’ St. Mary’s of the Nativity Church, one of the biggest parishes in the county. Mazariegos says the massages turned sexual on April 14, when Cortes allegedly sodomized the boy.

After the boy went to police, Mazariegos says, Cortes admitted to committing crimes during a phone call with the boy, set up by law enforcement. “The priest didn’t deny any of the allegations brought forth by the victim,” Mazariegos says. “The priest’s response to the allegations was, ‘Whatever happened, happened.’”

Investigators also allegedly found pictures of topless juveniles on Cortes’ cell phone and child pornography on his computer. Cortes pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Cortes’ attorney, Miguel Hernandez, says his client is innocent and is being tried in the media.

Cortes is the first pastor of the Diocese of Monterey to be arrested for sexual misconduct with a minor, spokesman Warren Hoy says. “It really is an aberration,” Hoy says. “It is not something that is condoned or accepted.”

Hoy says the diocese doesn’t have a stance on Cortes’ guilt or innocence, and is not assisting with Cortes’ legal defense or helping him make bail. “We have specifically asked anybody else that may have any knowledge or any other information to please come forward and report it to the police,” he says.

Cortes has worked for the diocese for 12 years. During his first assignment, he served as associate pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Salinas. “In the last 12 years, this is the first allegation against him of any kind,” Hoy says.

At press time, Cortes remained in jail on a $750,000 bail. Judge Adrienne Grover denied a request to lower his bail because he has no family or property in the area and may be a flight risk. His priest duties are suspended, but if he makes bail, Hoy says the Diocese will find a job for him away from children. “We’ll find work for him,” he says. “He could be filling envelopes or cutting the grass or something.”

A preliminary examination of the case is scheduled for May 1.