September 5, 2018
Watch: Miami Beach Police Arrest 2 Priests Caught Hooking Up in a Car
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Police in Miami Beach arrested two Catholic priests Monday who were accused of having oral sex inside a parked car in the middle of the day in South Beach, Florida, CBS Miami reports.
Miami Beach Police charged Diego Berrio, 39, and Edwin Giraldo Cortez, 30, with lewd and lascivious behavior and indecent exposure. Authorities said they received a 9-1-1 call about the alleged incident taking place. According to the police report obtained by the news station, the cops arrived at the scene around 3:20 p.m. Monday and said the two men were performing sex acts on each other "in full view of the public passing by on Ocean Drive and the sidewalk."
"Yesterday, we received a call indicating that two men were performing a sex act inside of a car. This is in broad daylight, 13th Street and Ocean Drive. There are no tints on the window," said Miami Beach Police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez.
Police added that the priests, who serve for the Archdiocese of Chicago, were so involved with each other that they did not notice the cops on the scene.
"We observed the two males performing the sex act, the officer had to tap on the window to get their attention," Rodriguez said, according to CBS Miami. "Their profession is irrelevant, in fact, our trouble with this is that this is broad daylight, for anyone to see including children. There's a time and a place for everything and this certainly was not the time and place."
Both men posted bond and have been released from jail.
The Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement Tuesday regarding the alleged incident, CBS Miami reports.
"We were informed this morning that Rev. Diego Berrio, pastor of Misi�n San Juan Diego in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Rev. Edwin Giraldo Cortes, an extern priest from Soacha, Colombia who served at St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago for one month, August 1 to August 31, 2018, were arrested in Miami on September 3, 2018.
"Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately. The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Misi�n San Juan Diego as soon as possible.
"Archdiocese representatives have been in contact with Fr. Cortes' home diocese of Soacha, Colombia and informed them that Fr. Cortes will not be granted additional faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
"It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry. We take this matter very seriously and will provide updates as they become available."
Watch CBS Miami's report below.
