The woman who publicly claimed she was 17 when a longtime Roman Catholic priest in Alabama successfully offered her financial support in exchange for sex and other forms of private companionship — recently prompting him to resign from the clergy — says “there’s no real winner in this situation.”
In her first remarks since Robert “Bob” Sullivan’s self-imposed removal from the priesthood was announced by his church superiors, Heather Jones wrote in a statement that the only thing she gained was “the truth finally coming out after years of letting myself think it was no big deal.”
“I’m going through a lot of mixed emotions,” Jones’ statement added. “My hope now is for healing, accountability and protection for anyone who has ever been hurt by someone powerful.”
Alluding in part to the criminal charges filed against her shortly after she first spoke out about Sullivan, Jones continued, “It was painful to come forward. The attempts to discredit me and all the hateful comments became overwhelming.”
But without elaborating or providing more details, she said other women “who shared their own experiences with me, including things that happened with Bob,” provided her with vital support.
“Their voices are the reason I stayed strong and I encourage anyone with a similar experience to get this weight off their chest,” Jones’ statement said.
The comments by Jones, 33, marked the latest twist in a saga she says began while she was growing up in foster care after she was removed from her mother’s custody “due to severe neglect.” She wrote that she lacked reliable “adult support” during her formative years, and so she tried to make a living as an exotic dancer at an establishment outside Birmingham, Alabama.
Jones says she was 17 when she met Sullivan at that location, where she was able to get a job despite being under the legal age. Sullivan regularly patronized the place, tipped her during shifts, and soon offered to “change my life,” as she put it.
Sullivan eventually proposed “forming an ongoing relationship that included financial support in exchange for private companionship,” Jones wrote in a complaint she would later file with church leaders. Jones alleged that Sullivan took her shopping, dining and drinking, and to hotel rooms in various cities in Alabama, in part, to have sex, beginning when she was 17 and over a period of several years. She also said he paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep quiet about it all.
Jones said she didn’t immediately understand the predatory nature of her acquaintance with Sullivan, now 61, but went along with what he wanted because she was in a “desperate state.” She described struggling with depression, addiction and emotional instability during her and Sullivan’s arrangement — and said she ultimately decided to speak out against him as she continued to work closely with families and their children as the grassroots pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Homewood, Alabama.
Jones made his allegations in a formal written complaint to the Diocese of Birmingham, which he then provided a copy of to The Guardian in August.
Church officials in Birmingham referred her allegations to the Vatican’s body that investigates cases of clerical misconduct. They also said they investigated “significant payments alleged to have been made by … Sullivan,” finding no connection between the allegations and church funds.
Sullivan, however, asked Pope Leo XIV “to be released from all obligations” to the priesthood, according to those officials. And the pontiff granted Sullivan’s request on November 22.
Catholic priests promise to be sexually abstinent. In addition, people under 18 are classified as minors — and sexual contact with them is considered abusive — under policies that U.S. Catholic bishops adopted in the early 2000s amid the decades-old clergy molestation scandal around the world.
However, there is no indication that Sullivan ever attracted scrutiny from Alabama law enforcement. While Alabama — whose legal age of sexual consent is 16 — made it illegal for clergy to engage in sexual activity with under-19s, that didn’t happen until the spring of 2024.
Jones, on the other hand, was charged with a felony in connection with allegations that she filed a legal motion on behalf of a man involved in a court case, Alabama news outlets reported. Prosecutors in a county north of Birmingham say the motion was signed under Jones’ name as an “attorney/law student” — and that in itself constituted that he was illegally “engaged in the practice of law” without being a licensed attorney, as WHNT.com noted.
A trial has been scheduled for January 28.
Jones largely declined to comment on prosecutors’ allegations, saying he would prefer to let his attorney handle the matter. But she said she can’t help but wonder if the allegations were designed to undermine her credibility for speaking out against Sullivan.