WASHINGTON – A judge revoked bail for Filipino priest Rodney Rodis, who is accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two Roman Catholic churches in rural Virginia.
The judge ruled on Monday that Fr. Rodis of the Order of St. Camillus violated the terms of his $25,000 bond when he traveled to New Mexico last month to visit his family, who had been living with him before his troubles began.
He will be held at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County.
Rodis, who became a priest in the Philippines in 1986, worked for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, which serves most of the state of Virginia before he was assigned in 1993 as pastor of St. Jude church and Immaculate Conception church in Louisa County.
When a $1,000 church donation was reported missing in 2006, authorities launched an investigation and found out that Rodis, 50, lived a double life.
He had passed himself off as a family man with Joyce Sillador-Rodis as his wife, and together with three daughters they lived in Spotsylvania, about 40 miles from the two churches where he was pastor.
The woman and the three children left for New Mexico after a grand jury indicted Rodis in January on 13 counts of embezzlement. If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in jail.
His trial is scheduled for Oct. 1.
