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.
Let’s tone it down. A pastor’s life is full of everyday stress to be “perfect”. To quote an old Indian proverb: “Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.” To quote Jesus: “Do not judge lest you be judged”. I don’t condone this man’s behavior, but I certainly understand reaching a breaking point. My old pastor used to talk about stuff like this. You spend your whole life preaching and teaching being “good”. After a few times of feeling like “no good deed goes unpunished” you sometimes come to a place to where you say: “I’m tired of being good. What has it gotten me? I want to be BAD ... just for a while.” Fighting the good fight is a FIGHT. Daily. Maybe we should offer to pray for this guy, his family and his flock.
"Demon rum"...?
Maybe we need a new slogan:
"Got a little Pastor in you..."
And the guy's name?
Rev. Craig S. Rhodenizer, 46
Make that Craig S. Womanizer?
Cheers!
Tone it down?
You can quote Kipling.
Marry me. Damn the law.
And please disregard a) my husband and b) all the FReeper guys I’ve said that to.
Was this Elliot Spitzer’s pastor?
Any YouTube fun and games yet?
I guess that whispering little devil on the good pastor’s shoulder is to blame.
I would marry you IF, your husband approved, and you could do a to the death broad ax fight at nine months. My GGandfather said, Indian wars in SD in the 1870’s, don’t get captured or wounded.
Well, FWIW, I was in a duel to the death last season - my opponent (my cousin Lucrezia Borgia) and I were tied together at the left wrist, and we had daggers in our right hands.
But it ended with her brothers dragging her off me, and my Conquistadors restraining me. So some practice with that axe will be in order.
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Of course there's a photo. There's always a photo.
Considering where he ended up, was he lying?
LOL, that's his story and he's sticking to it!
I would like the cops to explain probable cause on that one to an honest Judge, if there was such a thing???
“Considering where he ended up, was he lying?”
Actually, unless this guy has a history of being an alcoholic, it sounds to me like he was/is on the cusp of a nervous breakdown. Sure sounds stress-related to me. On your way to Best Buy and you end up at a stripper club in the middle of the day when you were supposed to be back home in 30 minutes? Sounds like a spontaneous brain blow-up for no good reason. Sounds like a breakdown of some sort. Hope he gets help and gets well.
It seems that you took the Green Dress after these upsets. It seems that a protector was needed and some training and may you get both, some people never get a second chance.
Sounds like an American version of the Monty Python dirty vicar sketch.
“said he couldn’t remember anything about the 36 hours he was missing.”
I hate when that happens.
The stress was probably induced by Windows Vista.
*********
LOL. Ain’t that the truth.
WHY didn’t he tell the police to get lost? After all, it’s not like he committed a crime....he just ran away!
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