'I’ve thought about that hotel incident every single day since it happened,' Father Brent Shelton wrote in an open letter
by the diocese. The dioceses did not have any comment about the allegations against Saldana.
Shelton, in his letter, said his alleged encounter with Saldana nearly drove him from the priesthood. On the strength of Saldana’s recommendation, Shelton said he entered the seminary. And once enrolled, he agreed to go with Saldana to the state fair even though it was against the rules. Eventually, Shelton said, he told his priestly mentor, Father Joe Dean, “about my troubles with Saldana, and he assured me that the problem had been resolved.”“My goal was to find a way to answer the call to the priesthood without ever having to see, hear from or hear about Saldana again,” he wrote.