Fresno, Calif. ? Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, already under fire for his handling of sexual abuse allegations against other priests in the nation’s largest Catholic archdiocese, is now confronting accusations of his own.

Lt. Michael Guthrie of the Fresno Police Department confirmed Saturday that an investigation involving Mahony was under way.

Mahony said he was cooperating fully with police.

Flora Mae Hickman, 51, of Fresno, claims she was molested by Mahony while a student at San Joaquin Memorial Catholic High School in 1969. But contacted Saturday, Hickman offered no details of what she claims Mahony actually did.

Mahony revealed the accusation, and denied it, Friday night in a three-page statement.

“My personal integrity and reputation demand that I take all possible steps to refute this false allegation,” Mahony said.

Mahony’s statement came as more accusations against Catholic priests surfaced nationwide, including Saturday’s admission by the Sacramento Diocese that 14 priests have been accused of sexual misconduct with children over the past 30 years.

Mahony issued his statement after a Los Angeles radio station obtained and quoted from church e-mails about abuse cases that refer briefly to the woman’s claim, which she first made March 20 to the pastor of St. John’s Cathedral in Fresno.

Hickman told The Associated Press on Saturday she was knocked unconscious while fighting with students and woke to find the “bottom” portion of her clothing removed and Mahony, then a monsignor in Fresno, “over her.”

Hickman also said she was taking medication for depression and has been told by a psychiatrist that she was a paranoid schizophrenic. She said she could not remember many details of what happened.

The AP does not normally identify alleged victims in sexual assault cases, but Hickman gave permission for her name to be used. Her name was also included in Mahony’s statement.

On Thursday, confidential e-mails between Mahony and his staff, including his lawyers, were obtained by radio station KFI. The e-mails contained numerous references to the sexual abuse scandal and Mahony’s concerns about the way the archdiocese was responding to it.

Attorneys for the archdiocese lost a late-night court hearing Thursday to keep KFI and the Los Angeles Times from quoting from the e-mails.

Despite saying she could not remember details, Hickman insisted Saturday the charges are true and that the incident caused her to lose her faith.

“I’m not making this up. I know this is a serious allegation. This has been eating at me. I did call police when I was out of high school. They didn’t believe me,” she said.

A 1970 San Joaquin Memorial Catholic High School yearbook contains a photo of Hickman, confirming she was a member of the graduating class that year.

Mahony, 66, became the head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1985 and was elevated to Cardinal in 1991.