Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Priest Resigns, Pleads Not Guilty in Molestations

An Episcopal priest has been charged with sexually molesting two teen-age boys who attended his Palmdale church and has resigned from his clerical post, authorities said Wednesday.

Robert L. Ducker, 63, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Antelope Municipal Court to eight counts of committing various sex acts with minors. He remained in Los Angeles County Jail Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Ducker befriended the two youths, who are now 15 and 14, and allegedly molested them over the past two years, Deputy Dist. Atty. John A. Portillo said.

An older brother of one of the boys learned about the incidents and reported it to his mother, who contacted authorities last week, said Detective Ron Schram, a sheriff’s child abuse investigator. The priest was arrested Sunday at his Palmdale apartment.

Schram said he is trying to determine whether any other youngsters were abused at Christ the King Mission in Palmdale, where Ducker had served as vicar since 1991, or at a Northern California church where Ducker previously worked.

Last weekend, Ducker informed the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles “that he had been involved in sexual misconduct with teen-age minors,” said Robert Williams, a diocese spokesman. “Upon informing the bishop’s office of this, he immediately resigned his position as vicar . . . The bishop has removed him from any and all priestly duties anywhere in the Episcopal Church.”

Deputy Public Defender Roy Wallen, assigned to represent Ducker, said Wednesday that he could not comment on Ducker’s statement to the church. Wallen said criminal defendants usually plead not guilty at their arraignments to give their attorneys time to review police reports and to decide how to proceed with the case.

The diocese has offered counseling and other support to the families involved in the case and to other members of the Palmdale church, Williams said.

Ducker was ordained as a deacon in 1955 and as a priest in 1956.

More recently, he attended a seminar on clerical sexual misconduct, which is mandatory for all priests in the diocese.