Victim was going to testify about being forced to see a psychiatrist for lying or face expulsion from school after rape by Lawrence Hecker, now Such shocking testimony was set to be delivered in a criminal trial against the retired priest, year-old Lawrence Hecker , that was scheduled to begin Tuesday in New Orleans. But it was upended when the clergyman unexpectedly pleaded guilty to charges of child rape and kidnapping, a decision that guarantees him a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
The most complete account yet of the case that state prosecutors in New Orleans were prepared to present against Hecker β after he had long benefited from a complex cover-up largely engineered by his church superiors β is contained in court documents obtained by the Guardian and WWL-TV upon the sudden conclusion of the case. According to a page filing from the office of the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, the victim who pursued the case against Hecker was about 16 when the priest raped him in Hecker would also encounter the teen at weekly pool parties for students at the local seminary.
The priest told the child that he had heard St John would soon be starting a wrestling team. He purported to teach the teen some moves to help him make the squad. The ruse allowed Hecker to position himself behind the boy and put him in a chokehold. Authorities would later assert that the teen felt Hecker rape him before he lost consciousness as he tried to fight his attacker off.
When the teen woke up, he realized the back of his shorts were wet, so he discarded them as he went home. He said he then noticed it was much later in the day because of the way the sunlight was hitting the bell tower β and that he was alone.
The teen later told his mother about the rape β as well as his principal, Paul Calamari, who summoned the boy to his office after he had gotten into a fight with a friend. The boy suspected the Catholic church must have paid for the therapist because he knew his parents could not afford it. Much later, long after St John Vianney and St Theresa both were shuttered, it would become clear to the victim β now 65 β that he was far from the only boy Hecker had preyed on.
