Father Henry Perez
Diocese of Orange (Marist Father)
Ordained: 1973
Removed: 1991
Died: 2003
Assignment History:
- 1974-1976: Notre Dame Des Victoires (San Francisco, California)
- 1977-1978: St. Matthew’s (Phoenix, AZ)
- 1979-1980: St. Mary’s (Chandler, AZ)
- 1981: St. Margaret (Tempe, AZ)
- 1982: Immaculate Heart of Mary (Phoenix, AZ)
- 1983-1984: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Glendale, AZ)
- 1985-1986: Holy Spirit (Fountain Valley, CA)
- 1987-1989: St. Edward (Dana Point, CA)
- 1990-1992: St. Anne’s (Santa Ana, CA)
- 1993-2001: Inactive Leave
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Henry Perez:
Fr. Henry Perez was was originally ordained a Marist priest in Arizona priest in 1973. He was incardinated into the Diocese of Orange in May 1989. According to media reports, in 1991, he left active ministry and was placed on administrative leave without faculties after the Diocese learned of allegations of sexual abuse in Arizona. In 1993, two lawsuits were filed against him in Phoenix. He was accused of sexually abusing a minor boy from approximately the late 1970s to the early 1980s while he worked in the Diocese of Phoenix. He was also accused of taking boys on trips from Arizona to California, giving them drugs and forcing them into orgies with other priests.
In 2002, he was working with children as a “self-described Anglican Catholic priest.” In 2003, he was indicted in Phoenix on six felony charges of sexual conduct with a minor and one charge of misdemeanor public sexual indecency. A man told investigators Father Perez encouraged him to be an altar boy at St. Mary’s Parish in Chandler, took him out to dinner and on trips to Las Vegas, and bought him cigarettes and alcohol as a teenager.
On two occasions, the man described how Fr. Perez hugged, kissed and molested him. The man “said he didn’t know whether to scream or cry and run away,” according to county attorney documents. Another man told investigators he also was a victim of Father Perez at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glendale. The man, who agreed to massage Father Perez for money to fix his father’s truck, said he was molested by Father Perez with an electric massager on one occasion and had sex with Father Perez on a second. Shortly after the indictment, Fr. Perez died of a heart attack at age 63.
In February 2004, he was included in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’, “Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse Archdiocese of Los Angeles.” He was also named on the Diocese of Orange’s “List of Credibly Accused Priests Incardinated in the Diocese of Orange” and on the Diocese of Phoenix’s 2018 List of names of priests of religious communities that have been laicized and/or removed from ministry by their communities due to sexual misconduct with a minor.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Orange in California. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in one of California’s Catholic dioceses, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Orange now have legal options due to a temporary change in California law, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in California and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.