Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Heredia, Costa Rica · 2022

Costa Rica: pastor's 34-year sentence for abusing a teenage congregant confirmed through the Supreme Court's criminal cassation chamber

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

pastor, Heredia congregation

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The victim was a member of Arce Díaz's congregation and the abuse occurred both at his home and during a church-organized trip — the pastoral relationship supplied both the access and the pretext for unsupervised contact.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2023-01-01 · conviction, appeal and cassation all affirmed

    Tribunal Penal, first instance; Tribunal de Apelación de Sentencia Penal, III Circuito Judicial de Alajuela, San Ramón; Sala Tercera de la Corte Suprema de Justicia (cassation). Ronaldo Adolfo Arce Díaz, then 55, was found guilty on 28 November 2022 of three counts of sexual abuse, one count of aggravated rape and one attempted aggravated rape against a girl who was 14-15 at the time, with incidents occurring at his home and during a church trip to Limón, and was sentenced to 34 years. The Court of Appeal (resolution 00459-2023) and the Supreme Court's Third Chamber (cassation sentence 00791-2023) both affirmed the conviction and sentence.

Appellate history

  1. 2023-01-01

    Affirmed by the Sala Tercera de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, cassation sentence 00791-2023 — final.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • pastoral authority over a congregant beginning when she was 14
  • access through church activities including a church trip to Limón

Primary record

Sources

court record appellate decision Poder Judicial de Costa Rica, Tribunal de Apelación de Sentencia Penal III Circuito Judicial de Alajuela, resolución 00459-2023.

Appellate resolution affirming the conviction of Ronaldo Adolfo Arce Díaz for sexual abuse and aggravated rape of a minor congregant, confirming the 34-year sentence.

Related record

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