Pinoy priest in embezzlement scheme appears in US court

WASHINGTON – Filipino priest Rodney Rodis, accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two small Roman Catholic churches in Virginia, appeared briefly in court on Thursday to discuss hiring counsel.

He did not enter a plea and a judge ordered a continuance of the case for Feb. 26, court officials said.

Rodis, 50, declined to talk to reporters outside the Louisa county district court in Virginia, a state which borders Washington D.C. He is free on a $10,000 bail bond after surrendering his passport to police.

Church authorities said, based on preliminary audits, Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from St. Jude and Immaculate Conception in Louisa county between 1993 and 2006 but state police said their investigations indicate the priest may have funneled up to $1 million in church funds into a secret account.

But that was not his only secret.

Neighbors said he passed himself off as a family man with a wife and three daughters in Spotsylvania, some 40 miles from where he preached and celebrated Mass.

A grand jury on Jan. 8 indicted Rodis on one count of felony embezzlement. If found guilty he faces up to 20 years in jail.

Church officials said the disappearance of the funds came to light when a St. Jude parishioner who made a $1,000 donation in the fall of 2006 asked for a receipt for tax purposes. When the money could not be found in financial records, officials became suspicious.

Steven Neill, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, which serves most of the state of Virginia, said Rodis was ordained a priest in the Order of St. Camillus in the Philippines in 1986.

Neill said Rodis came to the United States in 1991 to work for the diocese and was assigned as pastor of St. Jude church and Immaculate Conception church.

Police seized from Rodis’ home in Spotsylvania county bank records and other items, including a receipt dated May 24, 2006 from Lucky Money Inc., a service for wiring money to the Philippines, according to court documents.

The bank account that Rodis is alleged to have diverted money to had less than $150 by the time authorities got to it, the Rev. Mark R. Lane, vicar for clergy with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said.

Shock and incredulity were the general reaction of neighbors and parishioners when news of Rodis’ double life spilled into print and the airwaves."We’re still in a state of shock and very disappointed," said one parishioner, who likened the case to a Hollywood drama.

"Unbelievable. Really unbelievable. We had no clue at all that he was a priest," said a next-door neighbor who did not want to be named.

She said the Rodis family moved into the neighborhood about eight years ago and described them as "nice, quiet people."