Former Harford County priest sentenced to 22 years in prison

U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Fernando Cristancho to 22 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release for coercion and enticement of a minor whom he met through church to engage in illegal sexual activity, according to a May 11 news release from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Cristancho, a former priest who served at St. Ignatius in Hickory, also admitted that he produced nude images of four other minor victims.  

“The Archdiocese of Baltimore admires the courage of the survivors of Fernando Cristancho and all survivors of child sexual abuse,” the Archdiocese of Baltimore said in a May 11 statement. “The archdiocese also commends the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and other law enforcement agencies for the investigation, prosecution and sentencing of Fernando Cristancho.”

The archdiocese said it applauds efforts to “hold perpetrators accountable for their heinous crimes, and prays that these efforts contribute to healing.” 

According to a 2008 statement from the archdiocese, Cristancho was a priest of the Diocese of Istmina-Tado, Colombia. Cristancho’s assignment in the Archdiocese of Baltimore was at St. Ignatius, Hickory, from 1999 to 2002. In July 2002, Cristancho refused an assignment to another parish from Cardinal William H. Keeler, then archbishop of Baltimore, which led to the July 8, 2002, revocation of his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Representatives of the archdiocese met Sept. 26, 2002, with the Catholic community at St. Ignatius for a town hall meeting. Cardinal Keeler wrote to Cristancho’s bishop in Colombia about the revocation of Cristancho’s faculties and urged that Cristancho be permanently dismissed from the clerical state. 

Cristancho, 65, has had no assignment and has not been permitted to function as priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore since July 2002. 

“It was subsequent to the revocation of his faculties to function as a priest that the archdiocese learned that Cristancho had fathered triplets with a woman through in-vitro fertilization, and much later that he was accused and found by a court to have sexually abused two of his children,” the 2008 statement said.

In sentencing Christancho, Judge Hollander also ordered that, upon his release from prison, he must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

“Cristancho is finally being held accountable for his horrific crimes,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron. “Let this sentence serve as a deterrent to anyone who seeks to sexually abuse children, especially those in trusted positions intended to be a safe place and haven for children.” 

The Archdiocese of Baltimore said it is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. It urged anyone with knowledge of any child sexual abuse to come forward, and to report it immediately to law enforcement. 

“If clergy or other church personnel is suspected of committing the abuse, we ask that you also call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection Victims’ Assistance Hotline at 1-866-417-7469,” the archdiocesan statement said.

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