Ex-priest indicted for allegedly raping disabled child while ministering in New Orleans

Published February 6, 2026 By admin

A man accused of molesting a disabled boy whom he met while working as a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans has been indicted on child rape charges, according to authorities.

Grand jurors seated in New Orleans’ state criminal courthouse on Thursday handed up a nine-count indictment against Mark Francis Ford, nearly five months after authorities arrested him and jailed him without bail. The document charges Ford, 64, with aggravated rape of a child; raping a person suffering from a physical disability preventing resistance; two counts of molesting a juvenile; another three of indecent behavior with a minor; and kidnapping.

Ford is only the latest figure to come under authorities’ scrutiny during the longstanding clergy molestation scandal within the New Orleans Catholic church. Prosecutors allege that he committed the offenses cited in the indictment between 2006 and 2008, victimizing a boy who was between the ages of 12 and 14.

He would face mandatory life imprisonment if convicted as accused in the indictment, through which the office of the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, filed formal charges against Ford in connection with his earlier arrest.

Ford’s attorney, Ralph Whalen, did not immediately comment on Thursday.

Court records generated by Ford’s arrest allege that he positioned himself as a mentor to the victim in the case while the boy grieved two family deaths. Ford then allegedly exploited that proximity to abuse the boy, whom he met through a church program for youth who are disabled.

Read more https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/05/mark-francis-ford-child-rape-new-orleans

Content retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/05/mark-francis-ford-child-rape-new-orleans.