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	Arrest Warrant Issued for Former Priest in LI Abuse Case Newsday August 3, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--priest-abuse0803aug03,0,2694113.story Riverhead, N.Y. (AP) _ A former Catholic priest is facing arrest after remaining free for the nearly three years since he pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old boy. A judge had previously agreed to postpone jail for Barry Ryan because of the ex-priest's health. But the judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday, after prosecutors suggested the one-time cleric was contriving to avoid incarceration. Ryan pleaded guilty in October 2004 to sexual conduct against a child. Assigned to parishes in Brooklyn and Queens in the 1970s and 1980s, he had been suspended from the priesthood in 1995. Ryan, 58, told authorities he was suffering from terminal liver cancer. Prosecutors and the boy's family agreed on a sentence of two years, possibly to be served outside prison. Suffolk County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo agreed to put off jail for Ryan, whose attorney has said his client is on the verge of dying. Ryan has spent much of the intervening time at a church-run health center in Maryland. Authorities said he recently moved to Missouri. Gazzillo issued the arrest warrant after prosecutors said Ryan had made light cuts to his own neck Wednesday, in what they presented as an effort to avoid being locked up. Ryan's lawyer, Joseph Ostrowsky, said his client's condition was unstable and he was "terrified of going to jail." The victim's mother said Gazzillo's decision to call for Ryan's arrest was "such a relief." Prosecutors said Ryan molested the boy while visiting friends on Long Island in 2003. Ryan was suspended from the priesthood in 1995, after he was accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual activities while he was an Air Force chaplain in Montgomery, Ala.
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