OGDEN, Utah (AP) — The Rev. Mario Arbelaez Olarte has pleaded no contest to a charge of enticing a minor over the Internet and has agreed to leave the country.

Under terms of a plea bargain, Arbelaez Olarte, 44, will return to his native Colombia.

Arbelaez Olarte entered the plea and sentencing was set by 2nd District Judge Scott Hadley for Nov. 4.

However, Arbelaez Olarte may be out of the country before then, defense attorney Bernie Allen said.

The priest could leave voluntarily, or he could be put through deportation proceedings, which would mean jail time pending his processing by immigration officials, Allen and Deputy Weber County Attorney Gary Heward said.

Arbelaez Olarte was arrested May 14 by police at a rendezvous where he expected a 15-year-old boy he met while in a Gay.com chat room. The supposed boy was actually a law enforcement officer.

The rendezvous was a block from Ogden’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where Arbelaez Olarte lived and worked. He was suspended two days later by the Catholic Diocese for Utah.

About 50 parishioners showed up for his disposition hearing. “We would have had 300 here today, but so many had to work,” said Eduardo Rivera. “What we’re trying to do is we want people to know he is not alone.”

The congregation is standing by Arbelaez Olarte, he said.

“It won’t change how we feel about him,” Rivera said shortly before Arbelaez Olarte entered his plea. “We’ll still love him ... because of everything he built in every parish he worked in. He won the confidence of every single family.”

Arbelaez Olarte claimed he had only been doing Web research and he denied seeking sex.

Heward said, “His parishioners are in denial about this case.”

The chat room transcripts show Arbelaez Olarte talking about performing specific sexual acts with the supposed teenage boy, Heward said.

Allen and parishioners maintain Arbelaez Olarte was immersing himself in the online homosexual culture because of concerns families at St. Joseph’s had about their children and the Internet.

Regarding officials’ claim that adult pornography was found on the priest’s computer, Allen said, “There is no evidence on his computer that he has been soliciting children on the Internet other than this one instance.”