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Filipino ex-priest's jail term still 'too lenient'


LOS ANGELES - Parishioners of a tiny county in Virginia believe that the 13 year-jail term that a Catholic priest received for stealing over $1 million from two parishes was lenient and does not warrant the gravity of his crime. On January 14, Rodney L. Rodis, 52, a retired priest of the Diocese of Richmond, was sentenced by Louisa County Circuit Judge Timothy K. Sanner to serve 13 years in prison. The sentence is to begin after Rodis completes a five-year prison term he is serving for mail fraud, money laundering and wire fraud. Rodis, who also led a secret life as a married man, was locked up in the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County after he was arrested in January 9, 2007 in Fredericksburg by Virginia State Police for embezzlement. Rodis had retired in May 2006 after serving as pastor of St. Jude parish in Mineral and Immaculate Conception parish in Buckner, both in Louisa County, for 12 years. He previously was administrator for both parishes for a year serving a total of 13 years. The jury that convicted Rodis in October on 10 felony theft counts had recommended he serve a total of 200 years in prison, the maximum allowed. Judge Sanner, however, reasoned that prison terms as long as 200 years are usually reserved for heinous cases of murder, rape or child sex abuse. Rodis was also ordered to pay $432,000 in restitution. That is the amount the Louisa jury found him guilty of stealing. However, the county’s parishioners, some of whom attended the trial, were not pleased with the sentence. “He has to answer to the higher power, and I take comfort in that," Rosemarie Ayres, a 21-year member of St. Jude’s Church in Mineral, told a local paper. Ayres had hoped Rodis would get a stiffer sentence. “He doesn’t care," added Ayres’ co-parishioner Albert Gutekenst. “I mean, he’s hurt us. He’s hurt everybody in both churches." Gutekenst and his wife, Marilyn, said their 18-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter now question their faith. Gutekenst said he would have preferred Rodis get at least 50 years. “I am very ashamed that my own people would do such a nauseating crime against the law and sin against God that he professed to serve," Rosario Reyes, 62, a Filipino resident of Gordonsville told Philippine News. “His punishment is too lenient, it doesn’t match the gravity of his crime and sin." “He gets a lighter sentence because he is a priest. Is this justice at all? What about if he’s a mere city clerk or school treasurer?" asks Carlos Bobis, 52, a Filipino parishioner in Immaculate Conception who grew up in Holly Grove. Louisa County is a tiny county located in the state—or officially, “Commonwealth"—of Virginia. Almost 80 percent of its population is white; only 0.25 percent is Asian. Although the county’s population is only 31,000, it is one of the fastest-growing in Virginia, as people have moved near Lake Anna. At least 15 new housing developments have sprouted in five years. Rodis reasoned at his trial that he was trying to help needy family members and others in his homeland. But it was later found out that Rodis also purchased an upscale two-story house with the money that he embezzled. The money was supposed to go toward church maintenance, tsunami relief and mission work in Haiti. Rodis was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Camillus in 1986 and came to the Diocese of Richmond in 1991. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Mark parish in Virginia Beach where he served a year. He then was named chaplain at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News and served there a year also. When he retired from active priestly ministry, Rodis told The Catholic Virginian that he had had a stroke in October 2005, which had impaired his memory. He later was in an automobile accident. He had not been able to preach a homily since the stroke although he continued to celebrate Mass. Rodis left Virginia on June 14, 2006 to return to the Philippines where he was to live at the home of his parents. He later returned to the United States to seek treatment for prostate cancer and was living in the Fredericksburg area at the time of his arrest. An investigation revealed that Rodis had been living with a wife and children near Fredericksburg while leading the two churches. Neighbors thought he was a businessman who was constantly traveling. - Philippine News
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