TYLER, Texas — The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops ordered dioceses across the state to publicly release the names of priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse.
The lists brought to light the identities of clergy who never answered for their alleged crimes.
However, it also highlighted some who were prosecuted, but may have been forgotten over time.
Gustave DeJesus Cuello
In the mid-1990s, South American priest Rev. Gustavo DeJesus Cuello was serving Our Lady of Guadalupe on Old Omen Road in Tyler.
According to the Associated Press, Rev. Cuello was arrested in Smith County on April 12, 1997, for raping a female. Parishioners helped Cuello make bail and he was released on bond on April 14, 1997.
At the same time, Alicia Barkley was working as a district attorney in Smith County. She was assigned to work the case against Cuello.
“It was a terrible case," Barkley remembered. "The abuse had been ongoing for a long time. It was a very sad case, and there was, I believe, a significant amount of evidence.”
In July of 2013, Cuello was formally indicted for the crime.
Meanwhile, Barkley and the district attorney's office began to further investigate the allegations against Cuello to build their case.
"You’re trying to speak with every potential witness. You’re trying to just learn everything that you can about the case and about the allegations,” Barkley said. "“I was met with a lot of resistance.”
Cuello was indicted for the crime on July 17, 1997. Before his next court appearance, Cuello fled the country to Ecuador.
“In 1997, we were preparing for trial to try him for aggravated assault of a child," Cuello said. "There was evidence that he had assistance in making that bail and in leaving the country. We did some significant searching for him, at that time, but we were not able to locate him, at that time.”
Barkley says the district attorney's office reached out to the Church for help finding Cuello.
“At the time, in 1997, there was not a lot of assistance from the Church in attempting to apprehend him,” Barkley remembered.
In 2003, based on information provided by the FBI in Tyler to Ecuadorian officials, Cuello was taken into custody in Guayaguil, Ecuador. He was brought back to Smith County to face a jury. He ended up pleading guilty to the offense and was sentenced to life in prison.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Cuello was defrocked by the Vatican following his conviction.
Cuello, 55, is currently an inmate at the George Beto Unit in Palestine. He is eligible for parole in 2033, when he will be 70-years-old.
Barkley has since left the district attorney's office. She now works for the Family Law Firm in Tyler.
More than two decades after Cuello's original arrest, she believes the Catholic Church has come a long way in dealing with sexual abuse.
"I think that the steps that are being taken by the church are positive," Barkley said. "I think that it is more than timely, and I think that it is a step in the right direction that they are attempting to protect their parishioners."