SAN ANTONIO -- A retired priest was arrested after police say he exposed himself to a park police officer.
The man, 71-year-old Chester W. King, Jr. of Converse, was arrested Tuesday in Olmos Park. According to a police report, King was driving around the park and approached an officer working undercover. After giving the officer a head signal to come closer, the officer said King exposed his penis and began masturbating.
The arresting officers said King told them he was a priest and occasionally visited the park before going to church.
King is charged with Indecent Exposure.
A spokesperson for the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas confirmed King is a retired priest from the Diocese of the Rio Grande. The spokesperson told News 4 WOAI King has done some substitute work at several churches in the Diocese of West Texas, filling in for other clergy members who are on vacation. King was at the Diocese of the Rio Grande from 1982 to 2009 before he retired and moved to Converse.
statement from Episcopal Diocese of West Texas
Statement regarding the arrest on September 1, 2010, of the Rev. Chester King:
The Rev. Chester W. King is an Episcopal priest who retired in and remains canonically resident in the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, and who now lives within the Diocese of West Texas.
Since moving into the San Antonio area in 2009, King has occasionally led Sunday morning worship services in churches of the Diocese of West Texas as a “substitute” for the local priest.
Pending the outcome of his arrest on September 1, King’s license to perform clerical duties in the Diocese of West Texas has been suspended by Bishop Gary Lillibridge.
