More victims of Fresno priest come forward to police

Jason Oliveira Image
Thursday, February 28, 2019
More victims of Fresno priest come forward to police
Detectives are now investigating to see if they can add additional charges to the case against Jose Serna who is accused in a series of sex crimes.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno Police is working to strengthen its case against Jose Serna.

The former Anglican Priest was arrested Sunday at his current church, the Holy Spirit, and charged with sexual misconduct involving at least three parishioners but detectives believe there could be a lot more victims.

RELATED: Effort underway to encourage potential victims of Fresno priest to come forward

"Detectives are receiving calls from potential victims, and the investigation will be ongoing and if detectives believe there is enough information to apply additional charges to this suspect they will certainly do so," said Lt. Mark Hudson.

At least four additional people have come forward since Action News first broke the story Monday to say they were victimized by Serna.

RELATED: Anglican Church priest arrested for series of sex crimes committed during time with Fresno church

Officials with the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin say they have advised all victims to report the sex crimes to Fresno Police.

Investigators are also working with organizations like Centro la Familia to encourage any additional victims to speak out.

"We do assist a lot of individuals who are victims of sex crimes. On an annual basis, we could see 600-700 victims of a crime, and we will help them to report the crime, restraining order or any other assistance they might need," said Mario Gonzalez.

According to officials many of the victims are undocumented and afraid to tell police.

Organizations like Centro la Familia say they can assist in obtaining a U-Visa -- which protects immigrant victims in cases like these from deportation if they go to law enforcement

"Our goal is to ensure they have the services that they need. If they don't want to report it we're not going to make them report it we're going to help them through the process," Gonzalez said.

Fresno detectives are investigating potential sex crimes that may have taken place in Yakima, Washington.

Serna was a Catholic priest there before coming to Fresno 12 years ago and joining the Anglican Church.

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