A Catholic priest and well-known exorcist who was accused of misconduct has been cleared of all charges.
Fr. Carlos Martins, an expert in Catholic relics, was leading an event with some 200 people at Queen of Apostles Parish in Joliet, Illinois, in November 2024. The priest, who hosts “The Exorcist Files” podcast, was on a 16-month tour where he lectured on relics. At the Joliet event, he reportedly joked with a group of attendees, commenting on his baldness, and allegedly briefly touching a girl’s hair.
This week, prosecutors “withdrew those charges and dismissed the case” without finding that Martins had done anything wrong or criminal, lawyers for the priest said.
Police reports, obtained by The Daily Wire through Freedom of Information Act requests, the girl—a minor— claimed Martins placed her hair in his mouth and flossed with it, and then sat behind her group, “growling” at them.
Martins and his legal team denied the allegations, and no security footage or independent evidence was presented to support the allegations prior to the police being notified by the parish. The negative media attention led Martins to cancel the remainder of his tour.
On July 30, 2025, Will County Circuit Court dropped the charges and acknowledged that Martins did nothing wrong.
Speaking with Daily Wire, Fr. Martins said he was grateful to be exonerated.
“A Christian doesn’t merely respect the truth —he recognizes it as a person. I trusted that, in God’s time, the facts would be revealed.”
The Joliet Police Department began investigating post-allegations in November, but only filed one count of misdemeanor battery charges on January 23, 2025. Martins pleaded not guilty on January 27, 2025, with a pretrial set for February 24, 2025.
During the investigation, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office released a December 12, 2024, report on the Joliet Police Department, finding patterns of unreasonable force, discrimination, and failure to hold officers accountable for misconduct. Examples included officers’ false statements and unaddressed violations.
In legal records obtained by The Daily Wire, questions arose as to the methods of police interrogation. No notes or body cam footage, no recordings of any kind, or statements by witnesses were included in Freedom of Information Act documents issued by the Joliet Police Department; only a summary of allegations made by the original investigating officer.
The Daily Wire reached out to Sergeant Dwayne English of the Joliet Police Department for comment, but did not hear back before publication.
