Former Fargo Area Priest Arrested in Philippines

Fernando Laude Sayasaya is charged in Cass County District Court for making sexual advances on two underage brothers from 1995 to 1998.

MANILA, Philippines – A Philippine official says the government is preparing to extradite a Filipino Catholic priest who is facing charges of sexually molesting two boys in two North Dakota churches in the 1990s.

Philippine Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras says Fernando Laude Sayasaya was arrested over the weekend in Calamba City south of Manila and would be flown back to the U.S.

Sayasaya is charged in Cass County District Court for making sexual advances on two underage brothers from 1995 to 1998.

He was assigned to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo and Blessed Sacrament in West Fargo.

 Paras says the priest has been charged in a North Dakota court over the alleged sexual advances on two underage siblings from 1995 to 1998, including by separately touching them.

Sayasaya flew back to the Philippines for Christmas in 1998 and never returned.