A Catholic priest accused in state court of embezzling from two Louisa County churches was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury on 13 charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and money-laundering.The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 51, had faced 13 embezzlement counts in Louisa. Its prosecutor will drop the state charges as the federal government pursues its case in court here.
In Louisa, Rodis was accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two churches he served as pastor -- St. Jude in Mineral and Immaculate Conception in Bumpass.
The alleged stealing took place while Rodis was soliciting donations for his two parishes during capital-improvement campaigns.
Church officials, and later law-enforcement officials, looked into missing money after Rodis retired last year for what he called health reasons.
Rodis told his parishioners to send their contributions to a post-office box he controlled, according to the federal indictment. He would then deposit the checks in his personal bank account and wire some of it to the Philippines, according to the indictment.
Rodis solicited contributions from parishioners to help reduce the churches' construction debt and to support the cemetery fund, religious education and other church functions.
"At least $515,231 of fraudulently obtained funds were transferred by Rodis outside the United States to addresses in the Philippines," the indictment says.
R. Don Short, the Louisa commonwealth's attorney, said he had been aware the federal case was coming. He said last night that he will let the U.S. attorney's office in Richmond take over prosecution of the priest.
"We will let the federal government pursue their charges. We will drop our state charges," Short said.
Rodis' lawyer, Louisa attorney John R. "Jack" Maus, knew the federal government was investigating his client, so the charges came as no surprise to him.
But he said he probably will not represent Rodis in the federal case. Maus said taking the case out of local hands could be a relief for residents of Louisa -- especially those still torn by their love for Rodis and their dislike for what he's accused of doing.
Maus and Short said they had not seen the indictment and could not comment on its contents.
According to the indictment, Rodis hid the fact that although he is a Catholic priest, he lived with his spouse, Joyce Flores Sillador-Rodis, and their three children in a subdivision just outside Fredericksburg.
His home was about 50 miles from his churches to help conceal his relationship from parishioners, the indictment says.
The federal takeover of the case comes less than a week before Rodis was due for a pretrial hearing in Louisa Circuit Court. Trial was scheduled for Oct. 1.
Maus was trying to get the state case thrown out of court. At the hearing next Monday, he would have argued that Rodis, as diocese-appointed parish priest for the two churches, had a certain authority under church law to administer the churches' money.
Resolving whether Rodis exceeded his authority would require the circuit court to get involved in interpretation of church law, Maus said in his dismissal motion.
The government is constitutionally barred from getting involved in internal church affairs, Maus said.
William Etherington, a lawyer for the Diocese of Richmond, disagreed with that argument. "I don't think the First Amendment says that," he said last month at the time Maus filed his motion in court.
Short said much the same: "I don't think the fact that you're a priest immunizes you from criminal prosecution."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce