Fr. Jacob Vellian

Father Vellian, a priest from the Archeparchy of Kottayam in India, belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church, temporarily worked in Kalamazoo in 1973-74 as per the advisory of the USCCB. In the fall of 2010, the diocese informed that they had recently received an allegation of sexual abuse involving a female minor, and after a thorough review, the Review Board found the charges to be credible. The accuser stated that she had informed the diocese about the assault in 2002, where a priest had walked in on them during the incident in 1973. Vellian had been actively serving in various dioceses in the United States until 9/11, after which he was reported to be residing in the Kaduthuruthi seminary in Kerala’s Kottayam district, India. The Michigan Attorney General’s office conducted an investigation and subsequently charged Vellian in May 2019 with the rape of a 15-year-old girl in the early 1970s. The Attorney General intends to seek extradition from India.