Visiting Catholic priest indicted on sex abuse charges

April 30, 2009

MAMARONECK - A Catholic priest visiting from Ecuador has been indicted on
sex abuse charges for allegedly fondling a parishioner he was marriage
counseling, the district attorney said yesterday.

Father Richard Ordonez, 37, of 816 Underhill Ave., St. Vito's Church in
Mamaroneck, was indicted on three counts of first-degree sex abuse and one
count of first-degree attempted sex abuse in connection with assaults that
allegedly occurred in 2004, the district attorney said.

Father Ordonez, who was marriage counseling the victim between Jan. 12-23,
2004, is accused of grabbing the woman and attempting to sexually assault
her during their last counseling session, officials said. The parishioner
broke free, but again was allegedly grabbed and forcibly groped by Father
Ordonez, the district attorney said. She eventually fled the session and
avoided contact with him.

In 2008, after talking to a friend, she contacted village police to report
the assaults, officials said. By that time, Ordonez was out of the country
but he returned later that year. Father Ordonez was arrested Dec. 8 , 2008
by police at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he was about to board
a plane with a one-way ticket to Ecuador.

If convicted of the charges he has been indicted on, Father Ordonez would
face up to seven years in state prison.

A message left at St. Vito's Church seeking comment was not returned.

Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said officials
have revoked Father Ordonez's privileges to serve as a priest in the area.
Ordonez also would unlikely be able to serve as a priest anywhere else,
Zwilling said.

"With this kind of charge, there's no diocese, at least in this country,
that would allow him to function as a priest," Zwilling said.

The diocese has no plans to look into the allegations, Zwilling said, adding
that officials will defer to police and prosecutors, particularly because
Ordonez is not from the diocese. Zwilling also said officials believe the
allegations are limited only to Father Ordonez, and do not involve any other
priest.

"I don't think there's any pattern there," Zwilling said. "I don't think
there's any pattern being alleged. I think that's kind of an off-base
question."

http://lohud.com/article/20090430/NEWS02/904300469/-1/newsfront




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