Mugshots of the three alleged pedophiles — Agris Paul Lēvalds is in the center.

RIGA — For the last few months child molestation scandals have plagued the Roman Catholic Church around the world.

Last week a case cropped up for the first time in the Baltic states in southeast Latvia, involving a Lutheran vicar who converted in Feb. 2009 after serving for as a priest in the Catholic Church for many years.

Vicar Agris Paul Lēvalds, 48 of Daugavpils, and two other men whose names have not been released by police are now in custody on suspicion of working as a team to molest an unknown number of mentally handicapped and orphaned boys over a period of several years.

Latvia State Police said the case came to their attention in October 2009 when one of the boys came forward with an accusation that he had been molested. On Nov. 24 one of the three men, a 57-year-old security guard at a children’s hospital in Riga, was arrested. On April 22 Lēvalds was arrested and last Wednesday a third man, a 35-year-old convicted embezzler was also arrested. Police say their investigation shows that the three were allegedly working together to molest vulnerable boys.

“Full cooperation”

Archbishop Jānis Vanags, head of the Latvian Lutheran Church, said he the arrest was a shock given that the church had conducted an extensive evaluation of Lēvalds before admitting him as a clergyman.

“Every minister-designate, before being ordained is questioned about their personal life — about addictions, criminal convictions, non-traditional sexual orientation, extramarital relations. Agris Paul Lēvalds has served our church about a year, and he has previously been questioned as usual, without any suspicion of possible criminal activity,” Vanags said in a press statement last week.

Vanags said the church would fully cooperate with the police on rooting out any pedophilia.

However, Archbishop of Riga Jānis Pujats, the head of Latvia’s Roman Catholic Church, said in an interview Thursday with the Diena newspaper that Lēvalds had been expelled from the church for “apparent homosexuality.”

The case remains under investigation.

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