Franklin Priest Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes, Sentenced to 7 Years

A Franklin priest pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes against children and adults on July 14 and was sentenced to seven years in state prison.

The 32-year-old Juan Carlos Garcia-Mendoza, known as Father Garcia by community members, pleaded guilty to continuous sexual abuse of a child, four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and four counts of sexual battery. He was sentenced to serve 100 percent of that seven-year sentence, and upon release, be placed on the sex offender registry and subject to community supervision for life.

As part of the plea deal, one count of aggravated sexual battery was dismissed, and the former St. Philip Catholic Church associate pastor must relinquish his status as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Garcia-Mendoza accepted the plea deal just weeks before he was set to stand trial. Garcia-Mendoza issued a verbal apology during the plea hearing, which was attended by parishioners who support the now former priest as well as victims.

Multiple victims previously testified that Garcia-Mendoza apologized following the incidents of touching boys' and men’s penises over their clothes as mere accidents. Some of those incidents victimized children who were taking part in church services as altar servers.

“This case reflects our continued commitment to seeking justice for victims of sexual abuse and holding perpetrators accountable, regardless of their position or title,” the 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Mason spoke with the Williamson Scene following the hearing.

“It wasn't until people started coming forward that we realized that this was an ‘accident’ happening over and over and over to different individuals,” Mason told the Williamson Scene after the plea hearing, adding that the nature of the sexual assaults was a unique challenge, one that would have been further highlighted had the case gone before a jury.

In an April 11 motions hearing, Garcia-Mendoza’s previous attorney Brent Horst unsuccessfully attempted to separate the charges against the minor victims and adult victims into two separate cases and two separate trials. That motion to sever was denied by Judge Deanna Johnson in an April 17 order, and Garcia-Mendoza’s trial was set for August 8.

Garcia-Mendoza was initially facing charges related to four children, but one boy who was 11 at the time of the complaints recanted his testimony and no longer wanted to be involved in the case, causing one charge of aggravated sexual battery to be dropped earlier this year.

“This [case] didn't involve penetration, this didn't involve force, this didn't involve injury. This was a touch, a graze, a cupping, and so getting the jury to understand the severity of it in its totality, which is why the motion is sever, was so instrumental in this case, because if you tried one person, one person in a trial, I think the majority of people would write it off as an accident, but when you then have six people, then it's less likely that it was an accident … this was his MO, his modus operandi, this is how he did it. This is how he got his sexual pleasure, by touching these individuals and then playing it off as an accident. And he was very successful with it for a really long time.”

At the time of publishing, Garcia-Mendoza’s current attorney, James McVeigh, has not returned a request for comment.

Mason told the Williamson Scene that the cooperation of both St. Philip Catholic Church and the Diocese of Nashville was “huge” in successfully prosecuting this case, adding that to her knowledge, St. Philip is the only church that Garcia-Mendoza worked at that sought out law enforcement when they learned of allegations or concerns with inappropriate conduct.

”I have great respect for St. Phillip’s, because if they had not brought this to our attention, I don't know how much longer it would have continued,” Mason said.

“These cases are never easy. These cases have layers of secrecy, layers of shame, and the fact that it took one person in this case coming forward, and it took one person at the church believing them to report it, and it took the church taking it seriously to open an investigation that led to the additional victims being discovered,” Mason said, calling the courage of the victims’ “remarkable.”

“So, it's really the power of one person to speak up that makes a difference, and it made all the difference in this case.”