Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera
Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Extern)
Ordained: 1970
Laicized: 2009
Assignment History:
- 1970-1987: Tehuacan (Puebla, Mexico)
- 1976-1987: San Sebastian (Cuacnopalan, Puebla, Mexico)
- 1987: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Los Angeles, CA)
- 1987-1988: St. Agatha’s (Los Angeles, CA)
- 1988-1992: Mexico
- 1992-1993: Nuestra Senora de Perpetuo Socorro (Torre Blanca, Mexico)
- 1994: San Antonia de Padua (Mexico)
- 1995: San Vincente Ferrer/San Nicolas Tolentino (Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico)
- 1996-1998: Unknown
- 1999: San Miguel Arcangel (Mexico City, Mexico)
- 2000-2008: Unknown
- 2009: Laicized
- 2010-Present: Unknown
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera:
Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera was ordained a priest in 1970, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Los Angeles. According to media reports, in Fr. Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera was ordained in Mexico in 1970. Despite numerous reports of sexual abuse of children, including a letter from the Tehuacan Diocese’s bishop, he was sent to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in March 1987, where he served as an extern priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Agatha’s.
In December 1987, two altar boys’ parents told the Archdiocese that the priest had sexually abused their children. Fr. Aguilar-Rivera was confronted with the allegations by archdiocesan officials, but it was never reported to the police. Months later, after a grand jury indicted Aguilar-Rivera with 19 counts of lewd acts involving ten children, Aguilar-Rivera fled to Mexico.
The California police estimated that Aguilar-Rivera sexually abused at least 26 children from the two Los Angeles parishes (Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Agatha’s) during his nine months in the US. He is also said to have abused at least 60 Mexican children, both before and after his stay in California.
Aguilar-Rivera was charged with abuse in Mexico in 1997 and was convicted of the charges in 2003 but was not sentenced because the judge determined that the charges were too old. He was allowed to remain in ministry.
In 2006, several survivors filed suit in Los Angeles accusing a Cardinal from Mexico of covering up Aguilar’s past and transferring him to the United States. In June 2009, a former altar boy accused Aguilar-Rivera in a lawsuit of having sexually abused him at a Catholic church near downtown Los Angeles in 1987, just before the priest fled to Mexico. The abuse is said to have occurred when the accuser was 9 or 10 years old. Similar lawsuits were filed in 2009, 2010, and 2013.
In July 2009, Fr. Aguilar-Rivera’s was laicized. He remains at large and is on Mexico’s federal Most Wanted list on rape and indecent assault charges. He is also wanted in Los Angeles for charges of lewd acts on a child. Fr. Aguilar-Rivera was included in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ list of priests accused of sexual misconduct involving minors.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles 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 Archdiocese of Los Angeles now have legal options due to a voluntary compensation fund created by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 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.