Merced Sun-Star
May 03, 2017 4:07 PM
Robert E. Gamel, the former lead priest at St. Joseph Church, was charged this week with a single felony count of possession of child pornography with a prior conviction, according to Merced County Superior Court records. Los Banos Enterprise File photograph
Less than six months after he was released from jail on a child pornography conviction, the former lead priest of a Los Banos Catholic parish faces new charges.
Robert E. Gamel, 67, the former lead priest at St. Joseph Church, will be arraigned Friday on a single felony count of possession of child pornography with a prior conviction, according to Merced County Superior Court records.
Gamel was arrested April 12 following a probation search at his Merced home, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Deputy District Attorney Travis Colby confirmed the child pornography charge filed late Tuesday is a new allegation related to the April 12 search of Gamel’s home. Colby would not say what probation officers found at Gamel’s home.
“I can’t go into any of the details of the arrest because this is an open case,” Colby said.
The Merced County Public Defender’s Office has been assigned to represent Gamel. Attorneys at that office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Gamel was known as “Father Bob” while he was head of the Los Banos church from 2009 to 2014. Allegations surfaced in August 2014 that Gamel obtained a nude image of a teenage parishioner. The issue came to light when the victim’s family contacted the Catholic Diocese of Fresno. Church officials alerted Los Banos police, and Gamel was placed on administrative leave from the church.
Gamel pleaded no contest in March 2016 to a single felony count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve 11 months in jail, avoiding the potential three-year prison term requested by the District Attorney’s Office. Gamel also was required to register as a sex offender and serve four years of probation.
The Catholic Church initiated its own investigation into Gamel, following the close of the criminal investigation, according to Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.
Gamel spent about six months in custody before he was released from jail in December last year, according to Merced County jail records.
Gamel was “indefinitely removed from ministry,” Dominguez said.
“From that time forward he began receiving a modest allowance, as the Church remains responsible for his basic human needs,” Dominguez said in an email. “When he was released from custody, the Diocese collaborated with law enforcement to ensure that his residence met the requirements of his probation.”
The church’s findings will be compiled in a report that will be sent to the Vatican in Rome. Vatican officials will communicate with the Fresno Diocese for a “final determination in regards to his priesthood,” Dominguez said.
“There is no precedence in this Diocese of a case of this nature,” Dominguez said. “Generally speaking, a priest can be called to live out a life of prayer and penance which involves no form of public ministry or it may be recommended that he is laicized, which is a very complicated, lengthy process that returns him to the state of the laity.”
If convicted, Gamel faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison. Gamel remained in custody without bail Wednesday at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility in Merced County.
Rob Parsons: 209-385-2482
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Ex-priest pleads guilty to possession of child porn in Los Banos
Fr. Robert E. Gamel sought and found nude photo of teen boy; reported to police by diocese
California Catholic Daily
Robert Gamel (Merced County Sheriff’s Office)
The following comes from a March 11 Fresno Bee article by Rob Parsons:
A former Catholic priest in Los Banos pleaded guilty Friday to possession of child pornography, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
The Rev. Robert E. Gamel, 65, is the former head of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Los Banos, and was commonly known throughout the city as “Father Bob.” He was head of the church in Los Banos from 2009 until December 2014.
Gamel was charged with possession of a nude photograph of a teenage boy. Gamel told other priests he sought out the illicit photograph on the Internet, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Sun-Star.
The allegations against Gamel first surfaced in August 2014. Officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno informed police that Gamel was suspected of obtaining naked photographs of a teenage parishioner, according to the affidavit.
Police, in the affidavit, described a pattern of behavior involving Gamel and young male parishioners that made others in the church “uncomfortable.”
Allegations described included hugging a young man in a single-person restroom, rubbing the back of a sleeping teenager and touching young men on their arms, chest and shoulders.
Church officials sent letters to eight other California churches where Gamel served since joining the priesthood in 1990.
Investigators said they do not believe there were any other victims.
Gamel was placed on leave for several months before he was formally removed as the St. Joseph’s priest in December 2014. During the investigation, Gamel was transferred to another location where he reportedly ministered only to senior citizens. He was removed from working in the ministry following his arrest in June 2015, church officials said.
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New details in priest investigation from search warrant affidavit
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) – A priest at St. Joseph Parish in Los Banos became so concerned about the behavior of fellow priest Robert Gamel, that he decided to contact the mother of a teenage parishioner to warn her to be careful with Gamel.
This and other allegations are contained in a search warrant affidavit obtained by Eyewitness News, courtesy of the Merced Sun-Star.
Los Banos police served the warrant at the church rectory on Aug. 15. According to the court document, the teenage parishioner, a boy, was seeking spiritual guidance from Gamel. After interviewing the teen, police state he told them he became uncomfortable with the priest because Gamel was constantly touching him on the outside of his clothes.
Gamel reportedly offered to take the teen shopping for clothes. The teen rejected the offer, but Gamel contacted the youth at the church and gave him at least $100 for clothes, according to the affidavit.
“Gamel instructs (parishioner) to buy tight clothes and wear the new clothes to church for him to see. (Parishioner) accepted the money because his family is financially struggling,” investigators wrote in the document.
Police interviewed Gamel’s fellow priest, Father Joe Baca.
According to police, Baca said that at one time he observed Gamel entering a restroom with a young male. The document reads: “Baca was able to see Gamel and the young man and Gamel hugged as the door closed. Baca felt this suspicious as the restroom that the two were entering was a single person restroom which was locked and only Baca and Gamel had keys to.”
The affidavit states police also interviewed another parish priest, Father Guadalupe Rios. On one occasion, Gamel had informed Rios that he was counseling the boy.
The document reads: “Gamel informed Rios that (parishioner) had posted nude photographs of himself on the internet and that Gamel had located the photos and had seen them first hand. Rios warned Gamel of the legal consequences of looking at such photographs as they were considered to be child pornography. Approximately two months after first mentioning the photographs, Gamel approached Rios again and told him that it took some searching, but Gamel had searched for (parishioner) on the internet and located the nude photographs again.”
Police say Rios met with Baca and the two shared information about Gamel’s suspicious behavior with other young adult males. Rios eventually made contact with the teenage parishioner’s mother and warned her to be careful with Gamel.
The parishioner then suddenly stopped checking in with Gamel, according to the affidavit.
Gamel is no stranger to Kern County.
According to the Diocese of Fresno, he served at Christ the King Church in Oildale, St. Joseph Mission Church in Oildale, which no longer exists, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bakersfield, St. Ann’s Church in Ridgecrest, St. Joseph Parish in Boron, and Our Lady of Lourdes in California City.
News of the investigation was made public when the Diocese of Fresno released a letter written by Bishop Armando X. Ochoa stating that Gamel had been placed on leave. The letter was read to the congregations at the church sites where Gamel once served.
Eyewitness News has placed calls to the home where Gamel is currently residing and with the Diocese of Fresno to get his side of the story. Both sites said the message would be passed on to Gamel.
To date, Gamel has not responded.
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New details surface in police investigation into Los Banos priest
Los Banos Enterprise
04 September 2014
The investigation into the Rev. Robert E. Gamel centers on allegations the Los Banos Catholic priest on at least two occasions obtained nude photographs of a teenage parishioner from social media websites, according to documents obtained by the Merced Sun-Star.
Gamel, 64, has been under investigation since Aug. 14 when accusations surfaced involving the leader of St. Joseph’s Church in Los Banos and a teenage boy who attended the church. Gamel, who is commonly known in Los Banos as “Father Bob,” has not been arrested or formally accused of wrongdoing, police Cmdr. Jason Hedden said Tuesday.
Efforts to reach Gamel have been unsuccessful. Church officials said Gamel has been transferred to an undisclosed location where no children are present pending further investigation.
Los Banos police on Aug. 15 seized a laptop, computer tower, CDs and a brown box containing nearly 20 DVDs, many involving erotic-themed male muscle and bodybuilding films, according to a copy of a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Sun-Star.
Investigators on Tuesday continued combing through the items seized from the priest’s home and office.
“Because it involves a member of the clergy, detectives have to take additional steps to examine evidence in a way that does not violate protections of the sacrament,” Hedden said.
Priests enjoy “confessional privilege,” which, similar to attorney-client privilege, protects the confidentiality of certain conversations between a clergyman and a church member. Officers have to examine the computers without infringing on records that may be protected under that privilege, police said.
According to the affidavit, Gamel told other priests he’d searched for and, on at least two occasions, located nude photographs of the teenage boy, possibly on a social networking website.
Gamel had also “bragged” to several people “about the anonymous Instagram account and how none of them would ever suspect who he was on Instagram,” the affidavit says.
The affidavit describes a pattern of behavior involving Gamel and young men that made others in the church “uncomfortable.” Actions described in the affidavit include hugging a young male in a locked single-person restroom, rubbing the back of a sleeping teenager and touching young males on their shoulders, chest and arms.
The Rev. Guadalupe Rios told police about “another incident in which Gamel had given another juvenile a set of weights and had the juvenile begin to exercise and follow up with him with phone calls to update Gamel … on his progress,” the affidavit says. “Although Gamel’s actions were not illegal, Rios felt that it was inappropriate for a priest to behave in the manner in which Gamel was conducting himself,” the afidavit says.
Rios worked with Gamel for more than three years before he left the parish in October 2013, the affidavit says.
Rios told police, “Gamel had informed Rios that (the teenager) had posted nude photographs of himself on the Internet and that Gamel had located the photos and seen them firsthand. Rios warned Gamel of the legal consequences of looking at such photographs as they were considered to be child pornography.”
Church officials have sent letters to members of the other eight California churches in which Gamel served since he was ordained in 1990, asking members to come forward if they have any information regarding him, said Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.