A former Catholic priest in Louisiana hunted down 17 men who were drunk or in need of help, drugged and photographed them — and sexually assaulted at least a dozen of them — were sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday.
Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced former priest Stephen Sauer, 61, after he pleaded guilty Friday to 13 counts of sexual assault and nine counts of third-degree rape. , 17 crimes of voyeuristic filming. and 16 misdemeanors of drug possession, according to a press release from the district attorney for Jefferson Parish, located in southeastern Louisiana and part of the greater New Orleans area. The judge also ordered Mr Sauer to register as a sex offender and forbade him for life from contacting the 12 victims.
Over a two-year period beginning in the fall of 2019, prosecutors said, Mr. Sauer hunted numerous men in various distressing and vulnerable situations in New York’s French Quarter. Orleans, a neighborhood frequented by tourists and known for its nightlife. In some cases, he would drug their drinks or give them “sedatives,” prosecutors said.
By pretending to help them, prosecutors said, he would take them back to his home in Metairie, La., the largest city in Jefferson Parish. He then took photos or videos of them and sexually assaulted some of them, according to prosecutors. The district attorney’s office added that Sauer often shared photos of the victims online and in emails with others.
Many victims are visiting from out of state, lost or separated from friends.
Prosecutors said that among the drugs Mr Sauer used to incapacitate the victims was Zolpidem, an anesthetic used to treat insomnia that has also been used as a rape drug. . Some of the victims were identified because investigators found driver’s licenses and other identification documents among the photos Sauer took.
Detectives estimate there may be more than 50 other victims who have yet to be identified.
Mr Sauer’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The Jefferson Parish County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.
Before his arrest in 2021, Mr. Sauer’s LinkedIn profile shows he served as executive director of Arc of Greater New Orleans, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities. Prior to that, he worked as a lecturer at the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university. He also spent four years as a pastor at a Roman Catholic church in New Orleans.
Arc of Greater New Orleans did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The church where Sauer served as pastor declined to comment.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office began investigating Sauer in June 2021 after he sent his computer to an electronics store for repair.
“He sent a hard drive for repair somewhere in New York,” said Jason Rivarde, a spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. “And there were some things discovered on that hard drive that led to the investigation.”
A technician at the store found hundreds of photos on Sauer’s hard drive of victims that showed they had been sexually assaulted, the district attorney’s office said. Law enforcement officers in New York and authorities in Louisiana, which have begun an investigation. Mr. Sauer was arrested in December 2021, Mr. Rivarde said.
