“Hecker the pecker checker.” That’s what one survivor called him. Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty to aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, and theft on December 3, 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison on December 18. He died on December 26, 2024.
Hecker was ordained a priest in 1958. Sexual assault allegations against him date back to the 1960s. Why did it take until 2024 to convict him?
This post explains that Hecker repeatedly assaulted children while remaining free from legal liability. Ramon Antonio Vargas of The Guardian, David Hammer of WWL, and Aubry Killion of WDSU provided detailed accounts of Hecker’s treatment by his archdiocese and by the courts of law throughout these difficult years. I am grateful for their stories.
1958-1960s
Hecker was ordained a priest in 1958 and quickly started molesting. One early victim was a preteen altar boy who swam nude with the priest, an event that usually ended with sexual assaults of that boy and others. A Gretna, Louisiana, altar boy said Hecker had molested him in the 1960s.
In 2020, Plaintiff J.W. Doe alleged that Hecker sexually assaulted him in 1968. He also sued the church for its negligence in allowing the harm to occur to him.
Hecker gave the abused boys feathers to carry when they met a new priest. Apparently the feather signaled that the boy could be an easy target for abuse, and then became one as the new priest recognized the signal.
1975
More abuse occurred in 1975. As a teenager at St. John Vianney High School, one student became Hecker’s friend. The student would work out at the nearby church weight room. Hecker used to visit him there. Hecker arrived one day, talked to him about his interest in sports and in wrestling. Hecker then put the boy into a wrestling headlock. Hecker raped him after he fell unconscious from the attack.
The student told his mother and school officials what had happened, which is exactly what survivors are supposed to do. However, Paul Calamari, the school’s principal, did not report Hecker to anyone. Instead, he told the student to go for psychological treatment for his “anger issues and fantasy stories,” and threatened to expel him from the school. The survivor described the very negative effect the rape had on his life and his personal relationships from 1975 until today.
For the record, Calamari was later included on the archbishop’s list of credibly accused abusers.
This case finally resulted in Hecker’s confession of abuse, almost fifty years later, which is described below.
1980s
In the 1980s, attention was paid to priest abuse in Louisiana as the horrible stories of abuse by Father Gilbert Gauthe surfaced. Gauthe pled guilty to numerous sexual crimes and went to prison. One of this year’s news stories revealed that Hecker and Gauthe molested the same victim in the 1970s. This survivor was abused while swimming nude at a health club and taking trips with overnight hotel stays with the priest. Hecker later confessed he was unaware his conduct was wrong until Gauthe was prosecuted for it. He thought it was okay to do anything he wanted unless it was with a woman.
During these years, New Orleans Archbishop Philip Hannan received a complaint about Hecker’s abuse. A woman complained that Hecker had sex with her son. Hannan sent Hecker to Fordham University’s classes on pastoral counseling, and allowed him to return to work in Louisiana thereafter.
1996
In 1996, Louisianan Robert Melancon was convicted of raping an altar boy and sentenced to life in prison. More complaints were made about Hecker, similar to what happened when Gauthe was prosecuted. Either the same woman mentioned in 1988, or a different one, complained to Archbishop Francis Schulte that Hecker abused at least one of her three sons. During the review of that claim, a church official remembered hearing stories about Hecker making “physical contact in the nude” with boys swimming with him. Hecker admitted he had shared a bed with a boy and perhaps showered with him. He said he had stopped the swimming after a police officer warned him against it. The archdiocese said it did not have enough evidence to support the woman’s claims.
A memo to Archbishop Aymond said Hecker’s abuse continued through 1997.
1999
Early in 1999, Hecker received the honorary title of “monsignor” from the church. Why would an abuser get such positive recognition? Several months later, in writing, Hecker confessed to church officials that he had sexually assaulted a number of children. The abuse occurred over fifteen years, starting in the 1960s. Hecker said the world had changed a lot in that era and at that time he “succumbed to its zeitgeist.” He confessed to abuse of seven teenagers between 1966 and 1979. “Hecker, in the remaining cases, reported either fondling, mutual masturbation, nudity or bed sharing, including once on an overnight trip to a Texas amusement park.”
Archbishop Francis Schulte sent Hecker to a psychiatric facility in a different state. That facility determined that Hecker had also had a sexual encounter with someone who had a mental disability. The facility also told the archbishop that Hecker was a pedophile and should not work with children. Nonetheless, post-treatment, Schulte sent Hecker to a post that included a grammar school.
The church received nine complaints against Hecker. One accuser’s daughter wrote to the church, asking why Hecker was still a monsignor, and what would happen to her father, but never got any answers from the archdiocese. Her father’s case ended in a $37,000 settlement, which he did not receive until 2012.
2002
Under some pressure from the abuse reports, Hecker retired in 2002. He was allowed to retire with benefits, including insurance, housing, and retirement income. The next archbishop, Alfred Hughes, did not reveal Hecker’s abusive history. The archdiocese’s attorneys sent a memorandum to police saying Hecker had once been accused of abuse. Their letter did not mention the seven names identified in the confession or any of the other complaints. A review board recommended that Hecker be laicized, meaning lose his priesthood, but Archbishop Alfred Hughes did not laicize Hecker. Instead, he warned Hecker not to dress as a priest or celebrate public mass.
Hecker did continue to say mass for other priests, however.
2005
A woman told the church her ex-husband had been fondled by a priest on an overnight fishing trip.
2012
Archbishop Gregory Aymond authorized a $37,000 settlement with one of Hecker’s victims, the father who was mentioned above.
2018
In 2018, the church celebrated Hecker’s sixtieth year as a priest.
Philadelphia received national attention in 2018 for its reports on abusive Catholic clergy. Archbishop Aymond decided he should publish a list of clergy credibly accused of abuse, and included Hecker on that list.
The next year, the church settled after mediation with an altar boy and Boy Scout who had accused Gauthe, Hecker, and a third priest, James Kilgour, of abuse. The survivor received $275,000.
2019
Aaron Hebert filed his civil lawsuit against Hecker for molestation. His was one of numerous lawsuits brought against Louisiana priests and the church after changes in the statute of limitations.
2020
In 2020, the church filed for bankruptcy protection due to the numerous sexual abuse claims filed against it. The church stopped paying Hecker’s monthly payments only after it filed for bankruptcy. The judge did not allow the church to keep paying abusers. Bankruptcy has broad confidentiality rules that keep some information from being released. Many of the abuse cases are put on hold while the bankruptcy is settled.
The 2020 Docket for Doe v. Archdiocese of New Orleans Indemnity, Inc. et al., 2:20CV01138 (2020) lists in Item 46, in a hearing before Magistrate Judge Michael North, on November 20, 2020, that “Tentative dates for the depositions of Lawrence Hecker and Paul Calamari were discussed. No later than November 25, 2020, the parties are to submit letter briefs to the Court regarding the scope of the intended depositions and whether that scope should be limited in any way. The discovery conference will then be reconvened via telephone on a date and time to be determined.”
In a later case, Doe v. Archdiocese of New Orleans Indemnity, Inc., 2021 WL 4460465 (E.D. La. Sept. 29, 2021), Judge North observed that in the Hecker case, the plaintiffs had asked for a limited stay of the bankruptcy rules to allow Hecker and Calamari to be deposed “because of their advanced age,” out of “fear that those priests may pass away prior to the resolution of the Archdiocese’s bankruptcy case.” North allowed the depositions to continue, stating:
- The depositions would go forward with no limitations on the scope of questioning of Mr. Hecker and Mr. Calamari, without prejudice to the Debtor’s right to move to exclude such testimony from use in any future proceedings.
- The transcripts of those depositions would initially be sealed as a prophylactic measure.
- A protective order akin to the one in place in 20-CV-1321 was to be submitted to the Court for its approval and use in 20-CV-1338 (this case).
- I also made my courtroom available for the deposition to make myself immediately available if and when issues arose in the deposition.
Those depositions took place on December 14 and 15, 2020. Judge North noted the plaintiffs’ immediate appeal for them to be unsealed. He agreed with some of the plaintiffs’ arguments but denied their motion:
Plaintiffs’ counsel complained – quite correctly – that the deposition suffered from “major complications” due to Hecker’s refusal to answer questions directly, his sporadic invocations of his Fifth Amendment privilege, his counsel’s loquacious attempts to restrain and redirect Hecker and the arguments between them that ensued, and ANO’s counsel’s obstructive and unnecessary form and speaking objections. (Id.).
Nonetheless, North reiterated his decision that the transcript intertwined the archdiocese and Hecker so much that they could not be disentangled in a way that met the bankruptcy court’s ruling about access. Eventually, both cases were assigned to North, and he repeated his earlier ruling.
The later media release of Hecker’s deposition had a huge effect on the case.
2022
We learned in 2022 that the FBI is investigating child sex trafficking across state lines. If the Louisiana priests and children traveled to Mississippi, Texas, or Florida, as the facts suggest, interstate crime and the Mann Act could be involved in prosecutions.
2023
In 2023, The Guardian received a copy of Hecker’s confession and released it to the public. A copy of Hecker’s 2020 video deposition from the civil litigation by Aaron Hebert was also made available to them. The deposition explained how the four archbishops [Hannan, Schulte, Hughes, and Aymond] “helped [Hecker] avoid accountability.” In the deposition, Hecker mentioned his protection under the Fifth Amendment 117 times, “about once every four minutes.” Hecker disgustingly told them “we were encouraged to be with younger people, especially younger boys.” Allegedly so the boys would become priests, but obviously Hecker’s goals had nothing to do with priesthood.
Finally, in 2023, Hecker was indicted for aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, and theft. Almost a dozen witnesses were available who would testify about abuse by Hecker from the 1960s to the 1980s.
In another 2023 case, about Hecker’s 1968 abuse, Doe v. Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, No. 20-1321 Section “H,” 2023 BL 414082 (E.D. La. July 7, 2023), plaintiff survivors moved to disqualify United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo from the lawsuit because she is a loyal Catholic. In the case, J.W. Doe alleged that Hecker sexually assaulted him and that the archdiocese did not prevent the harm from occurring. Triche Milazzo said from the start she had announced that she and her husband are Catholic and that they contribute to their church parish. She denied the motion, saying numerous cases had shown that being of one religion does not disqualify you from all the religious cases.
In the same J.W. case, Judge Donna Phillips Currault rejected a motion for media to intervene in the lawsuit to learn more about the details. This opinion discussed the stay that bankruptcy had put on the litigation of the abuse cases. The opinion noted that Judge Meredith Grabill held that the bankruptcy stay did not extend to “non-defendant debtor priests” like Hecker. That allowed Doe to proceed with limited discovery, and depositions were held. Judge Michael North had previously refused Plaintiff’s request to unseal the deposition. In this case, the court said the media were seeking the same thing plaintiffs had sought, namely “removal of the protective order protections over the deposition and exhibits.” The existing parties had enough access to protect the documents, so “intervention is improper.”
2024
On April 22, 2024, Judge Juana Matine Lombard signed the affidavit for search and seizure warrant for Hecker’s papers. It includes, among other things, requests for “ANY and ALL complaints of sexual abuse received by ANY Person” of the archdiocese; all clergy personnel files; all documentation that led to someone being put on the archdiocese’s credibly accused list; etc. Investigator Scott Rodrigue is an investigator on the case, who wrote about a “Known-Victim” whom Hecker raped when Known-Victim was a minor. This warrant references an earlier, signed state warrant against Hecker, which had uncovered much of the abuse material. Some of those documents, the warrant says, show that the archbishops knew about the sexual abuse, failed to report it, and “spent Archdiocese funding to support the accused.” That history gave them more reason to apply for this warrant.
WDSU revealed sealed documents in which about a dozen victims reveal abuse by Hecker, going back to the 1960s. We were “passed around like meat, and we all suffered,” said one survivor. The records show long abuse of fondling students after swimming with them, and raping some of them.
The criminal dockets for Cases 559997 and 559803 show the lengthy details of Hecker’s prosecution. The charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, aggravated rape, and theft of $500 or more, are listed. Hecker and/or his lawyers appear numerous times. Their motion to reduce bond was denied. Sometimes Hecker is listed as being in the hospital. On February 26, 2024, the Clerk’s office received a motion for a psychiatric evaluation. The records say the court found him competent on September 5, 2024. On September 24, however, the judge noted “it is in the best interest for this court to recuse itself for the betterment of justice.” On September 26, the record says “Due to the actions of the lead prosector [sic], it is in the best interest of justice and all parties involved; that this court recuses itself.”
That was Judge Benedict Willard, who delayed the case for a year while dealing with questions of Hecker’s competence to stand trial. He recused himself as noted above in September 2024, only arguing he disagreed with the prosecutor. A reporter questioned whether Catholic Willard “had done the church a last-ditch favor to see whether a declining Hecker would die while his case remained unresolved, sparing the archdiocese the painful spectacle of a trial.” Judge Nandi Campbell replaced Willard. Hecker pled guilty on December 3, 2024, to the four charges, in Campbell’s courtroom.
At least ten victims would have testified against Hecker if the case had gone to trial.
On the day of Hecker’s guilty plea, The Guardian reported that the cover-up failed, but not “for lack of trying by a coalition of high-ranking church officials and sympathetic judges, who prioritized the predator’s comfort above justice for his innumerable victims until the evidence against him was so overwhelming” that he pled guilty.
At the sentencing hearing, Aaron Hebert testified about Hecker’s rape of him. Hebert said he was raped under the guise of a hernia exam. Hecker is referred to as “Hecker the pecker checker.”
Hecker was sentenced to life in prison. He did not apologize for his crimes. Another survivor said that Archbishop Gregory Aymond “should have been sitting right there next to” Hecker as he was sentenced. But the archdiocese was absent.
The assistant district attorney, Ned McGowan, later said Hecker’s rape was “aided and abetted by the Catholic church.” Some of the state’s lawyers credited the journalists for continuing to pursue the stories as the judge and the church tried to block the case.
As Guardian reporter Vargas concludes: “The documents establish that New Orleans’s last four Catholic archbishops—the first of whom took office in the 1960s—had substantial reason to believe that Hecker was a child molester. Three stayed silent, and the current one waited several years before acknowledging that Hecker preyed on children.”
Don’t expect the archdioceses and their priests to obey the law and protect children. In Hecker’s case, children consistently received the worst treatment as the bishops and priests were well-treated even as they outrageously abused children and covered it up.
Hecker’s guilty plea was December 3, and his death was December 26. When he learned of Hecker’s death, New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams commented, “We had no time to waste.” That was true. After sixty years of abuse, Hecker’s life ended with a guilty plea and a life sentence. Just in time.
