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Missing N.Y. Pastor Found in Ohio Strip Club
ABC News ^ | March 28, 2008 | David Schoetz

Posted on 03/29/2008 1:05:25 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day

A pastor whose disappearance from a small town in upstate New York triggered a search by police and the FBI was found earlier today — inside an Ohio strip club.

Police said that when the Rev. Craig S. Rhodenizer, 46, was confronted by an officer, he began crying and said he couldn't remember anything about the 36 hours he was missing.

But dancers at the club remembered Rhodenizer. They told investigators that Rhodenizer spent two hours drinking, soliciting dances and making threatening comments. He also said he wanted to take the dancers back to his motel, according to the police report. In his car was a bottle of Bacardi rum.

Sgt. Frank Previte, an investigator with the Lewiston Police Department, told ABC News it was one of the most bizarre cases he's seen.

"They questioned him a bit. He was very distraught, crying and hysterical," Previte said. "He did not know where he was."

Rhodenizer was discovered more than 400 miles from his Lewiston, N.Y., home by police in Riverside, Ohio, who were checking out-of-state license plates of cars parked at the club in a high-crime section of the city.

When officers ran the New York license plate on Rhodenizer's Toyota Camry, the check showed the pastor as a missing person being sought by New York police and FBI. Riverside police called authorities in Lewiston and were instructed to approach Rhodenizer.

The pastor broke down when police asked if he was Rhodenizer, crying and asking about the welfare of his wife and son, according to a Lewiston police report.

Ohio police took Rhodenizer to a hospital and towed his car.

Previte was relieved the search for Rhodenizer ended safely for the pastor, even if it was under unseemly circumstances.

"Regardless, we don't have any indication that a crime has been committed," Previte said. "And I don't see that changing."

Susan Rhodenizer, the pastor's wife, told ABC News that the family is making arrangements for her husband to return home.

"This was very much a stress-induced emotional crisis," his wife said. "He's never had any of this, historically." The family intends to seek ongoing mental health treatment for Rhodenizer.

Susan Rhodenizer reported her husband missing Wednesday after he said he was going to a Best Buy 30 minutes away to have a computer repaired. The family was scheduled to go on a vacation Thursday.

New York authorities initially feared the pastor may have been kidnapped and the FBI joined the search. They picked up a cell phone signal placing Rhodenizer in northern Pennsylvania Wednesday night, once at 9 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. Previte said there was no cell phone or credit card activity throughout Thursday.

Rhodenizer is the pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in the Village of Lydonville.

Police said the pastor did not have any relevant criminal history. "In our check into his background, we could not come up with anything that indicated this was stress-incuded," Previte said.


TOPICS: Local News; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: elca; lutheran; middleagedcrazy; missing; missingpastor; oddspiritualjourney; oops; pastor; pastorsgonewild; stripclub
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Thankfully, he is safe.

Until his wife gets through with him.

1 posted on 03/29/2008 1:05:26 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day
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To: Choose Ye This Day

Didn’t read the article, but is this about Jerimiah Spitzer?


2 posted on 03/29/2008 1:11:04 PM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: Choose Ye This Day

A married man from NY involved in sexual behavior outside of his marriage? How unusual.(/sarcasm)


3 posted on 03/29/2008 1:12:17 PM PDT by Mark (Don't argue with my posts. I typed while under sniper fire..)
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To: Choose Ye This Day

Now comes the slap dance..


4 posted on 03/29/2008 1:14:13 PM PDT by vietvet67
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To: Choose Ye This Day

[cue the Southwest Airlines commercial announcer]

“Wanna get away?”


5 posted on 03/29/2008 1:14:13 PM PDT by RichInOC (...William Frank Buckley, Jr., November 24, 1925-February 27, 2008, R.I.P.)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
Susan Rhodenizer reported her husband missing Wednesday after he said he was going to a Best Buy 30 minutes away to have a computer repaired.

The stress was probably induced by Windows Vista.

6 posted on 03/29/2008 1:18:45 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
He also said he wanted to take the dancers back to his motel, according to the police report. In his car was a bottle of Bacardi rum.

Demon rum'll do that to you.

7 posted on 03/29/2008 1:20:12 PM PDT by stevem
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To: Choose Ye This Day
Susan Rhodenizer reported her husband missing Wednesday after he said he was going to a Best Buy 30 minutes away to have a computer repaired.

To "have a computer repaired" at Best Buy?? Uh, I think that should have been a tip-off right there. People don't get computers repaired any more than they get clock-radios repaired. You throw the computer away and get a new one.

8 posted on 03/29/2008 1:23:36 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: stevem
Demon rum'll do that to you.

Maybe he's a pirate.

9 posted on 03/29/2008 1:24:46 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Choose Ye This Day
Police said the pastor did not have any relevant criminal history.

Things that make you go Hmmm ...

10 posted on 03/29/2008 1:25:59 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Everything is either willed or permitted by God, and nothing can hurt me." Bl. Charles de Foucauld)
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To: Choose Ye This Day

ELCA


11 posted on 03/29/2008 1:27:45 PM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: Choose Ye This Day

Sounds like he went on a bender and didn’t want to be around his family. Not unusual among alcoholics.


12 posted on 03/29/2008 1:28:13 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: stevem

Pusser's Rum Cocktail: The Painkiller®

The infamous Pusser's Painkiller®—the drink we are known for throughout the West Indies, in the U.S. and many parts of Europe!

The Painkiller® is a blend of Pusser's Rum with 4 parts pineapple juice, 1 part cream of coconut and 1 part orange juice served over the rocks with a generous amount of fresh nutmeg on top. You have a choice of numbers 2, 3 or 4, which designate the amount of Pusser's Rum! Cheers!


13 posted on 03/29/2008 1:29:57 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
Rhodenizer was discovered more than 400 miles from his Lewiston, N.Y., home by police in Riverside, Ohio, who were checking out-of-state license plates of cars parked at the club in a high-crime section of the city.

So if drive with out-of-state plates and visit a legally operated establishment (no matter how much the local politicians may dislike it), you are a police target? Sounds like harassment to me. If it's a high crime area, the cops would be better served arresting criminals instead of checking on patrons in a legal place of business.

14 posted on 03/29/2008 1:33:53 PM PDT by CedarDave (John, When will you treat conservatives the way you do fellow senators John, Hillary and Barack?)
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To: Lancey Howard
Maybe he's a pirate.

Aren't we all, just a little.

Seriously, what causes a guy to simply go nuts like this? Assuming he will ever again be able to take a hard look at reality, how does he face his wife and kid?

Great Caesar's Ghost! I know I have parts of my soul I want to keep as deepest secrets, and hope the boys at the Pearly Gates are especially forgiving the day I ask for entry. I guarandarntee I never wish to parade them about for even strangers to have a gape. How could I even be in the same room with my wife and kids after the parade?

15 posted on 03/29/2008 1:39:35 PM PDT by stevem
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To: Red_Devil 232
Painkiller #2 ... 2 parts Pusser's Rum; Painkiller #3 ... 3 parts Pusser's Rum; Painkiller #4 ... 4 parts Pusser's Rum

Yikes! Once long ago I was home on leave from the Navy. One night my cousin and I hurt ourselves and seriously splitting a quart and a fifth of Mr. Boston Rum. I vaguely recall the night but vividly recall the next day. It still hurts to think about.

In those days I thought the party worth the hang over. These days I don't think that much fun can be crowded into one night.

16 posted on 03/29/2008 1:46:36 PM PDT by stevem
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To: Choose Ye This Day

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your God like a soldier.


17 posted on 03/29/2008 2:00:18 PM PDT by Little Bill (Welcome to the Newly Socialist State of New Hampshire)
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To: stevem
I was introduced to the Painkiller when I went on a Windjammer cruise back in the 80’s. The Pusser's Rum is a very good dark rum. They brought wooden kegs of this on board before we sailed. They may have been 4 or 5 gallon kegs and they would put one in a keg cradle every afternoon at about 4pm and pound a wooden tap into it and the party began!
18 posted on 03/29/2008 2:05:07 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Choose Ye This Day

http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_087214927.html


19 posted on 03/29/2008 2:16:56 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Everytime McCain reaches out to conservatives, conservatives get poked in the eye.)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
"This was very much a stress-induced emotional crisis," his wife said. "He's never had any of this, historically

Apparently, no one knew that Rhodenizer was a womanizer...

20 posted on 03/29/2008 2:16:59 PM PDT by mikrofon (WNY Bump)
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