Diocese: Diocese of Brooklyn
Summary of Assignments:
- 1977: Ordained; Venezuela
- 1984-1986 — St. Leo Roman Catholic Church; Corona, Queens, NY
- 1991: Priest in Punta de Mulatos, LaGuaira, Venezuela (Vargas Diocese)
- Prist in San Jose de Obrero, Mamo, Venezuela (Vargas Diocese)
- 1995-1996: Suspended from ministry, Venezuela (Vargas Diocese)
- Found working as a priest in Colombia (Archdiocese of Bogota)
Notes:
Jiminez was arrested in 1990 and charged with first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse for the alleged sexual abuse of three boys at St. Leo’s between 1986 and 1989. The alleged abuse included repeatedly sodomizing the boys and forcing the boys to perform oral sex in a variety of locations, including behind the altar, during confessions, and in the rectory. Jiminez was sentenced to 5 years probation and a 4 month prison sentence, where he was allowed to leave on the weekends to celebrate Mass.
The federal Immigration and Naturalization Service deported Jiminez to Venezuela in 1991. He was given an assignment as a priest in Punta de Mulatos. Rumors began to circulate about Jiminez and boys at the village chapel. Jiminez was then transferred to San Jose Obrero, where 18 boys later came forward alleging sexual abuse. The Bishop suspended Father Diaz from ministry on or about 1995 to 1996.
Jiminez returned to his native Colombia in 1996, where he found work as a priest in the Archdiocese of Bogota. Church officials did not have records of Jiminez working as a priest until the parents of two boys came forward complaining about a sexually abusive priest. He was arrested and accused of having oral and anal intercourse with two boys from a poor parish nearby. Jiminez reportedly lured them into his apartment with an offer of lunch. In 2002, he was reportedly sentenced to more than 53 months of house arrest.
Sources: US News & World Report 5.3.02; Newsday 04.25.90; Daily News 03.13.97; NY Times 04.20.02; Boston Globe 04.21.02; Associated Press 04.25.02; Dallas Morning News 06.12.02; USA Today 11.11.02; Mercury News 04.14.10; http://bishop-accountability.org/