Cops: Priest hired hit man to silence teen he abused

SAN ANTONIO - In a murder-for-hire case worthy of a Dan Brown novel, a Roman Catholic priest has been arrested on charges that he solicited a hit man to kill a teenager who had accused him of sexual abuse.

Authorities said John Fiala, 52, first offered the job to a neighbor, who blew the whistle and helped police arrange a sting. They said Fiala got as far as negotiating a $5,000 price for the slaying before investigators moved in.

The clergyman was arrested Thursday at his suburban Dallas home and jailed on $700,000 bail. In April, he was named in a lawsuit filed by the boy's family, who accused Fiala of molesting the youth, including twice forcing him to have sex at gunpoint.

The abuse allegedly took place in 2007 and 2008, when Fiala was a priest at the Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the West Texas community of Rocksprings, a rural enclave known for sheep and goat herding.

The family's lawsuit also named the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose Gomez, alleging that church leadership should have known Fiala was abusive.

The suit was filed just a month before Gomez was introduced as the incoming leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. He is currently serving as an assistant to Cardinal Roger Mahony, who will retire next year. Gomez then automatically becomes archbishop.

The allegations against Fiala seemed like they could have formed a plotline for Brown, who wrote The Da Vinci Code and other religiously themed thrillers. But the accuser's attorney said they hit too close to home.

When he learned of the murder-for-hire investigation, the boy "was terrified and rightly so," attorney Tom Rhodes said. As far back as 2008, Fiala threatened the teen and repeatedly brandished a pistol, Rhodes said.

Fiala "began saying, 'If you tell anyone, I'll hurt you, I'll hurt your family, your girlfriend,' " Rhodes said. "It was more than once he threatened him with a gun."

Fiala only recently rented a place to live in suburban Garland, where police say he initiated the attempted contract killing - even though his new home is more than 300 miles northeast of Rocksprings.