Assaults in a Cloak of Faith

Esmeralda was curious about the man who was known for his ability to see into the future.

She was 15 when she went to visit him at his house in southwest Los Angeles. She says the first thing he asked was whether she was a virgin. Her answer was yes.

He then told her about the terrible vision he had involving her father: He was a victim of witchcraft and would die soon.

Esmeralda says the man made her believe her father could be saved if she sacrificed her virginity to St. Martin Caballero, the patron saint used in luck charms. The saint, the man said, would be embodied in him.

Now Esmeralda is among seven women and girls who claim they trusted Carlos Hugo Catalan, 51, as a faith healer, but instead were sexually assaulted by him.

Catalan late last month pleaded no contest to five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse by fraud or fear and two counts of sexual intercourse with a minor. He was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

Authorities say a case like Catalan’s, in which so many of the victims make public accusations, is extremely unusual. Police and prosecutors believe hundreds of women and girls are being sexually abused while seeking religious healing in Los Angeles and elsewhere, though relatively few cases make it to trial.

In the last five years, sex-related cases with ties to faith healing, in which people believe a cure is accomplished through religious faith and prayer, have been publicized in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin, as well as Canada and England.

In 1998, a Houston man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for convincing a 16-year-old girl to have sex with him to rid herself of a curse. Last year, a man was convicted of sexually assaulting a Toronto woman who believed bad spirits had poisoned her marriage. Also last year, a New Jersey man was charged with raping a Maryland woman who turned to him while seeking a cure for her leg pain. He allegedly told the woman her family would die if she revealed they had sex.

Juan Cardenas, also known as Oswaldo Cardonas, was sentenced to 108 years in prison for robbing, raping and sexually assaulting members of four families in Compton while a faith healer more than 10 years ago. His victims ranged in age from 9 to 65.

Police and prosecutors say the common denominator in the cases is a faith healer who befriends women and then makes up frightening tales that eventually lead to fraud and sexual abuse.

In Los Angeles, police say abuse by faith healers is especially common in neighborhoods with large numbers of new immigrants, many of them Latinos who refer to healers as santeros or curanderos.

“It’s a crime in which there are [many] more victims than are reported,” said LAPD Det. Karen Zuniga, who has investigated four cases of rape involving faith healing during the last nine months in the Rampart Division’s eight square miles.

Ysamur Flores Pena, a visiting professor at UCLA who teaches about Santeria, a religion that worships West African deities along with Catholic saints, said it is difficult for believers to verify the integrity of those they turn to for healing.

“They go to these city slickers thinking about the experience that they have had in their home countries, which has nothing to do with sex or any other deviance,” Flores Pena said. “Then they submit themselves to these treatments, thinking that they are the same as the ones from their countries, and that’s when the problems begin.”

The Quest for Divine Intervention

Virtually every religion has a tradition of seeking help from a divine power to cure illness.

In Christianity, the belief in faith healing stems from Jesus’ miraculous ability to cure the sick and even raise the dead. Individuals in various Christian denominations have received attention over the years for their apparent healing abilities. In ancient times, temples to the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, were often erected near natural springs believed to have healing power.

Police say some families who turn to faith healers are such firm believers or are so desperate for a solution to their problems that they are willing to spend hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars.

Areles Flores said her Botanica El Sol in Los Angeles has become a refuge for women who have been abused by faith healers. She said most of them are afraid to report fraud or sexual abuse. Some tell her they fear they might fall victim to an evil spell. “I try to tell them that there is no way that a spirit would do anything to hurt them,” Flores said. “In the end, I don’t think that Satan could ever be more powerful than God.”

LAPD Det. David Cedeno investigated the Cardenas and Catalan cases. He said some faith healers build trust gradually and ultimately claim that they have supernatural powers. He said people who went to Cardenas believed he was omnipotent and could walk through walls.

Abusive faith healers “condition their victims in a period of time,” Cedeno said. “When they earn their trust they become more aggressive in their requests, and that’s when the sexual assault happens.”

Cedeno said the Los Angeles Police Department, which recorded more than 1,200 rape cases in 2001, does not separate those allegedly committed as part of religious rituals.

Law enforcement authorities said many victims are so convinced that faith healers have supernatural powers that they do not resist sexual contact. In some cases, their faith is so strong that they return even after they begin questioning whether the contact is improper, authorities said. “Everything is done in a way that is very smooth,” Zuniga said. “That’s why they don’t realize what happened until they come out and had a couple of hours to think: ‘My breasts have been groped and someone put their hands down my pants.’ After playing it back in their minds, they realize they have been sexually assaulted.”

Prosecution Can Be Difficult

Even when victims muster the courage to file complaints, prosecution can be difficult. Authorities must be able to explain in court how anyone could be so naive that they can be convinced that a sexual act was necessary in a religious or healing ceremony. Those familiar with faith healers said sex has nothing to do with the traditional practices.

Flores Pena has practiced Santeria for 20 years, and said that people should be skeptical of any requests to disrobe.

“People don’t have to take off any part of their clothes because the cleansing does not require nudity,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder, where is the common sense of these people? But I think that their desperation does not allow them to think sometimes.”

Authorities said unscrupulous faith healers can easily identify potential victims.

“They profile these women, and if they seem vulnerable, they try to prey on them,” Zuniga said.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Loftfield alleges that profiling victims was one of Catalan’s main skills.

He was known to use Tarot cards to tell people about their future, pray with those seeking help and pretend to undergo spiritual transformations, she said.

Catalan denied any wrongdoing for more than two years after his arrest in January 2000. A trial in Los Angeles Superior Court last year ended in a mistrial.

During that trial, Catalan’s neighbor Margaret Carlos testified that he helped her pray for her oldest son, Armando, who had joined a gang.

When her other son, Alex, began hanging around with gang members, Carlos testified, Catalan warned her that the teenager would be killed. The only way to keep gang members from killing Alex was for Carlos to have sex with Catalan after the spirit of St. Martin Caballero had taken over his body, she testified.

Loftfield said Catalan used the fears about Alex to encourage Carlos to leave her two daughters, ages 16 and 10, at his house for prayers. Catalan told the girls they could save their brother by making a sexual sacrifice to the saint, Loftfield said.

But defense lawyer Thomas Moore and Catalan’s relatives said that Catalan was a friend of the family who never abused anyone. In the end, Catalan entered the plea because he faced up to life in prison if convicted, they said.

Catalan’s daughter Leticia, 18, said she remains certain the accusations are false.

“My father is loving, very caring,” Leticia Catalan said before the plea. “He is everything you would want in a father.”

Esmeralda saw a different Catalan. During the trial, she testified that Catalan said only he embodied St. Martin Caballero. She said Catalan warned her that if she told anybody she was giving up her virginity to the saint, her sacrifice would lose its value.

“I would see my dad, and he was sick at that time. So I was, like, maybe it’s true, so maybe I do have to do that, even though I don’t want to,” Esmeralda said. “If it was in my hands to save my dad, I was going to do it.”