Legal records show Lawrence Hecker and Gilbert Gauthe targeted the same altar boy in 1970s before later being convicted of other crimes

Summary

Two of the most notorious clergy abusers in the U.S. Catholic Church, Lawrence Hecker and Gilbert Gauthe, preyed on the same victim in New Orleans during the 1970s.

Gauthe, whose 1985 conviction exposed widespread clerical abuse, served 10 years in prison, while Hecker was indicted in 2023 after his 1999 confession of abuse resurfaced.

Hecker pleaded guilty on December 3 and faces a mandatory life sentence.

The case has sparked a broader investigation into decades-old child sex-trafficking allegations within the New Orleans archdiocese, which allegedly concealed systemic abuse.