An Ecuadorean priest who had been visiting a Mamaroneck church pleaded guilty Friday to a charge that he groped a parishioner who had sought marriage counseling from him in 2004.The Rev. Richard Ordonez, a 38-year-old member of the Salesians order who had been living at St. Vito’s Roman Catholic Church, will serve no jail time after pleading to a reduced charge of forcible touching, a misdemeanor.
He agreed to perform up to 500 hours of community service and to stay away from the victim.
He will be sentenced Jan. 12 to a conditional discharge, meaning he will not be supervised by probation. He also will not be registered as a sex offender.
He remains free on $50,000 bail.
Ordonez agreed to the terms of the plea bargain after waffling for nearly two hours in Westchester County Court in White Plains, testing the patience of both the prosecutor and judge.
He had agreed to plead guilty to the reduced charge, but balked when County Judge Jeffrey Cohen told him the number of hours of community service. Through his lawyer, he asked for 250 hours instead.
"That’s what he’s worried about — community service?" Cohen asked defense lawyer Mary L. Bejarano.
He then turned to Ordonez and asked, "Is that what you’re really about?"
Bejarano, a private attorney from Queens, pleaded with Cohen to give her client more time to ponder the offer.
The judge refused, saying Ordonez could take the offer or go to trial Monday on the original indictment, including felony counts of sex abuse and attempted sex abuse.
Assistant District Attorney Julia Cornachio said if Ordonez rejected the plea deal and was convicted at trial, she would push for state prison time.
The top charge is punishable by up to seven years.
"We went to great lengths to get this offer," she said.
Ordonez, who counseled the victim from Jan. 12-23, 2004, was accused of grabbing her breasts and trying to sexually assault her at the Underhill Avenue church, where he had a bedroom.
She fled the counseling session and avoided him, authorities said.
Police said the woman came forward in September 2008 after learning that Ordonez, who had left the area, was returning to the parish.
He was arrested Dec. 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he was about to board a plane with a one-way ticket to Ecuador. He knew he was under investigation and had given a statement to police two days earlier.
He has since been ordered to surrender his Canadian and Ecuadorean passports.
Ordonez has no criminal record and was in this country legally with a green card.
He has been credited with reaching out to the parish’s Hispanic immigrant population, celebrating Mass in Spanish, English and Italian.
Ordonez’ privileges to serve as a priest in the area were revoked and he probably could not serve anywhere else, said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the church’s Archdiocese of New York.
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