Fr. Cornelius “Neil” T. Otero: Diocesan Clergy Accused of Sexual Misconduct With a Minor

Fr. Cornelius “Neil” T. Otero

Ordained: 1949
Assignments:
  • 1950-1958 Unknown
  • 1959-1966 Queen of All Saints, Brooklyn, NY (BRK)
  • 1967-1971 St. Teresa’s, Woodside, NY (BRK)
  • 1972-1980 St. Joan of Arc, Jackson Heights, NY (BRK) 19
  • 1981 Unknown
  • 1982-1987 Released from Diocesan Assignment
  • 1988-1998 Unknown
  • 1998 Died

Fr. Cornelius Otero was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Fr. Otero was arrested in 1979 for selling child pornography to an undercover police officer, but avoided jail time by becoming an informant for the New York Police Department. In 2018, Fr. Otero was publicly accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately the summer of 1977 or 1978 when the survivor attended the St. Joan of Arc summer camp in Jackson Heights, New York. In 2018, Fr. Otero was named in a civil lawsuit against the eight New York dioceses. Fr. Otero was also named on the Diocese of Brooklyn’s 2019 “List of Diocesan Clergy for Whom the Diocese Received Allegations of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor” in the subsection “Clergy Members of the Diocese of Brooklyn with Credible Allegations: Credibility Deemed by Diocesan Review Board Determination and/or Admission on Behalf of the Cleric.” Fr. Otero’s status as a priest, whereabouts, and whether he had access to children from 1981 until his death in 1998 are unknown.