Priest arrested in Kennewick on suspicion of rape
By Dan Thesman on Wednesday, September 7th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
KENNEWICK – Tomás Vázquez Téllez, 49, a Tri-Cities priest, was arrested Wednesday, on suspicion of third-degree rape with aggravating circumstances. The alleged incident occurred last month at a home the priest owns in Kennewick. The following news release was issued by the Diocese of Yakima:
The Rev. Tomás Vázquez Téllez, 49, a priest of the Diocese of Yakima, was arrested Wednesday, September 7 on suspicion of third-degree rape with an aggravating factor of being a person of trust. He is in the Benton County Jail awaiting possible charges in Benton County Superior Court. The arrest follows an investigation by the Kennewick Police Department of an incident that occurred August 19-20 at a home the priest owns in the city.
During the investigation, Yakima Diocese Bishop Joseph J. Tyson had ordered Vázquez to cease all public ministry and prohibited him from leaving the country, as well as to have no contact with the woman who reported the alleged rape. The woman contacted another priest of the diocese within hours of the incident to report it. After a brief interview with a diocesan official, the diocese supported the woman in having a medical exam, and in her decision to report the matter to police.
“We are shocked and saddened by these developments,” Bishop Tyson said. “I am grateful that the
woman came forward immediately and trusted another of our priests well enough to confide in him
and to bring this matter to light.”
Vázquez, who resigned as pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kennewick in April 2020 to begin a sabbatical to study Biblical languages, had been serving at Pasco’s St. Patrick Catholic Church, in the Diocese of Spokane, and was preparing to leave for a three-month study program in Jerusalem. The complainant, a woman in her 30s, told diocesan officials she had been invited to the home for dinner about two weeks prior to the trip.
She reported that the two had developed a friendship over the course of the past few years,
including lunches and dinners together, but that the priest had never made romantic overtures
before. She said she viewed him as a friend in whom she could confide. The alleged rape occurred
following the dinner. She said she left the home of her own accord after waking up the morning of
August 20.
Bishop Tyson noted that in both civil and church law, Vázquez is entitled to a presumption of
innocence, and will receive salary and benefits from the diocese while he awaits a resolution of any criminal charges in court. The Church will not pay for his legal defenses. While awaiting the outcome of the investigation, he also was required to cooperate with the process and check in daily with another priest of the diocese. He complied with those directives.
The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted earlier plans by the priest to travel to Israel in the fall of Since the Yakima Diocese did not have an assignment available for him at the time, he was granted permission to minister in the Spokane Diocese, beginning September 1, 2021. That permission has been withdrawn, and the only ministry the priest was allowed to have was to celebrate a private Mass by himself in his home.
Anyone with information about this matter is encouraged to contact the Kennewick Police
Department, (509) 585-4208.
