Authorities in south-west Louisiana recently arrested a Roman Catholic priest on accusations of behaving indecently with a child, igniting a new scandal in the diocese where the US church’s reckoning with clergy abuse began – an institution that just disclosed it could lose up to $162m over pending litigation.

Korey LaVergne was jailed Friday evening on three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to Acadia parish sheriff KP Gibson, whose agency arrested the priest. LaVergne had presided over mass at St Edward church in Richard – where the Lafayette diocese had assigned him as pastor – hours before he was booked into the Acadia lockup.

Records showed LaVergne made bail in the amount of $15,000 less than 90 minutes after he was jailed to secure his release from custody pending the outcome of the case.

Details about the allegations against LaVergne weren’t immediately available, with Gibson saying on Saturday that his office intended to issue a news release later “as the investigation allows”. A spokesperson for the Lafayette diocese said LaVergne’s arrest occurred after a report of “possible misconduct by [the] cleric” but didn’t elaborate.

“The diocese will continue to assist law enforcement and requests prayers for all who are involved,” the church statement said.

LaVergne, 37, had previously served as the Lafayette diocese’s official courier. In that role, he had drawn news headlines for bringing thousands of pages of documents to the Vatican outlining the cause for sainthood for Charlene Richard, who died from acute lymphatic leukemia at age 12 in 1959 and became known for offering her suffering up to God as well as others.

Richard, nicknamed the Little Cajun Saint, is buried at St Edward.

LaVergne’s arrest comes at a relatively fragile time for the Lafayette diocese, which was founded in 1918 and tends to a congregation of about 150,000 Catholics.

In a financial report posted in November, the diocese disclosed its “total range of potential loss on [pending litigation] claims with a reasonably possible likelihood of unfavorable outcome is $88,187,500 to $162,450,000”. That range derived from an estimate conducted by its legal counsel, which had “reviewed the lawsuits in order to evaluate the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome”, the diocese’s 39-page report said.

A Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe effectively brought the decades-old, worldwide Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys. He served 10 years in prison, now lives in Texas, and has continued to be named in lawsuits from victims who are seeking damages over their abuse at his hands.

The Lafayette diocese subsequently sought to strike down a law passed by Louisiana’s state legislature in 2021 that enabled survivors of long-ago sexual molestation to pursue civil damages in court. But the state’s supreme court upheld the law as constitutional in June 2024 despite the Lafayette diocese’s arguments to the contrary.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, about 135 miles (217km) east of Lafayette, the Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans agreed in December to pay about $305m to roughly 600 survivors of clergy molestation.

The New Orleans archdiocese took that step more than five years after filing for federal bankruptcy protection as it tried to limit the financial fallout of its involvement in the global church’s clergy abuse scandal.

News of LaVergne’s arrest prompted a statement from the executive director of TentMakers of Louisiana, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting Catholic clergy sex abuse survivors.

“This arrest is heartbreaking – not because it is shocking, but because it confirms that child sexual abuse in the church is still happening,” said the statement from Letitia Peyton, whose son was molested by a Lafayette Catholic priest in a case that later sent the cleric to prison. “Accountability must be immediate, transparent and enforced – anything less allows harm to continue.”

Generally, under Louisiana law, indecent behavior with a juvenile can carry up to seven years in prison.

The state defines the crime as “any lewd or lascivious act … in the presence of any child under the age of 17”. Messages – including texts – and actions alleged to be grooming can constitute the offense, according to Louisiana’s law.

Attempts to contact LaVergne weren’t immediately successful. He was ordained into the priesthood in 2018, a biography on the St Edward church’s website said. The biography said he had been appointed the pastor of St Edward in July 2021.

Online video of the mass LaVergne presided over shortly before his arrest showed him welcoming visiting students of an elementary Catholic school from nearby Crowley, Louisiana.

“You’re always welcome here to the home of the Little Cajun Saint, and we’re happy that you’ve come to hear her story and to learn more about the life … that she led,” LaVergne could be seen saying on the video of the service.