A former Catholic priest and serial sexual predator was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for drugging and sexually abusing 17 men in Louisiana, a district attorney said.
Stephen Sauer, 61, of Metairie, targeted and drugged apparently intoxicated, lost, or needy men he met in the French Quarter, New Orleans, under the guise of helping them, according to Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr. “In some cases, he put narcotics in their drinks while at bars or, after they passed out from drinking alcohol, he used an eyedropper to feed them the sleep-inducing substances,” Connick Jr.’s statement read.
Sauer then drove the men to his home, photographed or videotaped them “in various stages of undress,” molested them and drove them to their hotels or other locations the following morning, according to the statement. He also took photographs of the men’s driver’s licenses or other forms of identification. He would also share or trade the explicit images electronically. His crimes spanned a two-year period beginning in 2019 and most of his victims were visitors from out of state. (RELATED: Former Priest And Convicted Pedophile Pleads Guilty To 72nd Victim, Faces 193rd Conviction)
Stephen Sauer, 61, pleaded guilty as charged today to drugging 17 men he met in the French Quarter and drove them to his Metairie home, where he molested some of them, photographed or video recorded all of them. @JeffParishSO https://t.co/Zo3s0PEbPu
— Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office (@JeffParishDA) July 7, 2023
“Sauer pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism and to 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing legend drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia,” the statement continued.
The discovery of hundreds of images suggestive of sexual assault in Sauer’s hard drive by a New York-based electronics repair company to which Sauer had sent the hard drive sparked the investigation in June 2021, Connick Jr. said. He added that New York law enforcement officials determined the images were taken in Metairie and alerted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives found prescription pill bottles in the name of a convicted Missouri sex offender while searching Sauer’s home. The narcotics included a common “date rape” drug, Zolpidem, the statement read.
Detectives reportedly believed that more than 50 victims remain unidentified.
Sauer was a theological studies professor at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California in addition to once being a Jesuit priest but the allegations came after he had left both positions, according to The Los Angeles Loyolan.