Posted on 10/07/2011 5:54:01 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
The former Corpus Christi Catholic Church pastor who fled the country after his drunken-driving arrest in August apparently is living in a monastery in Poland operated by the Pauline Fathers & Brothers, the international order of priests to which he belongs.
“We are in the process of trying to convince the defendant and the Pauline Fathers to voluntarily return him for a hearing in Buffalo City Court,” Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said this week.
Prosecutors have been in touch both with the Rev. Matthew Wydmanski, 46, as well as with his attorney in Poland and with superiors of the Pauline order, Sedita said.
“The Pauline Fathers are sheltering him at one of their monasteries in Poland,” he said.
The Rev. Joseph Olczak, head of the American province of the Pauline Fathers & Brothers, which is based in Doylestown, Pa., acknowledged that he was contacted by the District Attorney’s Office but declined to comment further.
“I don’t know anything more,” Olczak said. “I know that [Wydmanski] contacted an attorney in Poland, and there is communication between the U. S. and Poland.”
Wydmanski was scheduled to appear Aug. 12 in City Court to answer charges of aggravated DWI and felony reckless endangerment stemming from an Aug. 6 arrest in the city’s Black Rock section.
Police found Wydmanski passed out at the wheel of a 2011 Chevy Equinox. When officers went to check the doors of the vehicle, the priest allegedly stepped on the gas and nearly struck them, according to a police report.
A test later showed that Wydmanski had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21, almost three times the legal limit.
The United States and Poland have an extradition treaty that would allow Polish authorities to produce Wydmanski to answer for the charges in the United States.
But Sedita said the U. S. Department of Justice would need to become involved—a complication that his office is trying to avoid.
“We’re trying to convince him to come back voluntarily,” he said.
Wydmanski had served at the traditionally Polish parish in the city’s Broadway-Fillmore section since late 2008 and was named pastor in January 2010.
Olczak appointed the Rev. Mariusz Dymek as administrator of Corpus Christi, replacing Wydmanski.
....[Rev. Matthew Wydmanski] was scheduled to appear Aug. 12 in City Court to answer charges of aggravated DWI and felony reckless endangerment stemming from an Aug. 6 arrest in the city’s Black Rock section.
Police found Wydmanski passed out at the wheel of a 2011 Chevy Equinox. When officers went to check the doors of the vehicle, the priest allegedly stepped on the gas and nearly struck them, according to a police report. A test later showed that Wydmanski had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21, almost three times the legal limit.
Related thread, different perp:
The Bizarre Musings Of A Plastered Priest.
TIED to a Polish monastery?
I think that might be a violation of his rights under the 8th Amendment...
Priests must conform to the laws. He should and will be charged with more crimes now that he has fled. I live in Kansas City it has become clear the Diocese needs to turn in promptly any of it own who have committed civil or moral crimes. Right now when I hear the word “stewardship” at Mass I want to stand up and scream. If you want my money then you better take the reins of YOUR stewardship and do a much better job. My money wasn’t intended to pay for civil lawsuits.
“We’re trying to convince him to come back voluntarily,” he said.
Talk about someone without the character to be a priest. He doesn't want to be held to account for his actions and is pulling every trick in the book to delay the inevitable. Defrock this scumbag and put him in jail for a long time.
Extradition? For a DWI? That’s just silly. Leave the arrest on his record (in the US), and move on. If he stays out of the US, what’s the issue? There were no victims. He was felony asleep in his car?
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