Mark Francis Ford has been held without bail for five months after authorities arrested him in Indiana
A man accused of molesting a disabled boy whom he met while working as a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans has been indicted on child rape charges, according to authorities.
Grand jurors seated in New Orleans’ state criminal courthouse on Thursday handed up a nine-count indictment against Mark Francis Ford, nearly five months after authorities arrested him and jailed him without bail. The document charges Ford, 64, with aggravated rape of a child; raping a person suffering from a physical disability preventing resistance; two counts of molesting a juvenile; another three of indecent behavior with a minor; and kidnapping.
Ford is only the latest figure to come under authorities’ scrutiny during the longstanding clergy molestation scandal within the New Orleans Catholic church. Prosecutors allege that he committed the offenses cited in the indictment between 2006 and 2008, victimizing a boy who was between the ages of 12 and 14.
He would face mandatory life imprisonment if convicted as accused in the indictment, through which the office of the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, office filed formal charges against Ford in connection with his earlier arrest.
