Cristancho, Fernando (Fr.)

Father Fernando Cristancho, originally from Colombia, moved to the United States in 1994 and was assigned to Good Shepherd in Alexandria. He faced accusations of misusing church funds for personal expenses and having an affair with a parishioner, leading to his departure. Despite the Arlington Diocese revoking his faculties in 1997, the Archdiocese of Baltimore granted him faculties, although rumors of sexual indiscretion were present. In 2001, it was discovered that Cristancho had fathered triplets through artificial insemination while serving at St. Ignatius, and he did not disclose this to the church. Eventually, he was found to have sexually abused two of his children.

He faced further allegations of mental abuse and coercion, and in 2016, another survivor came forward, reporting sexual abuse by Cristancho from the age of eleven at his house in Harford County. He was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for child sexual abuse in 2022.