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	Priest Who Headed Philly School Accused of Stealing $900k Associated Press, carried in Centre Daily Times December 21, 2007 http://www.centredaily.com/news/breaking_news/story/294171.html PHILADELPHIA — A priest who led the largest Roman Catholic high school in Philadelphia stole $900,000 and used some of it to ply a student he had molested with drugs and alcohol, prosecutors said Thursday. The Rev. Charles Newman became president of Archbishop Ryan High School in July 2002 but was fired 15 months later when questions arose about his handling of school finances. Forensic audits show he stole $331,000 from the school and more than $550,000 from his religious order, the Franciscan Friars, District Attorney Lynne Abraham said. Newman, 57, gave $54,000 to former student Arthur Baselice III, who later sued over what he described as a sexual relationship with Newman that started when he was a high school junior. The pair would meet at Newman's office or residence and often used drugs together while having sex, prosecutors said. Baselice unsuccessfully sued the archdiocese and spoke publicly about the case before dying of a drug overdose in 2006. He was 28 and had struggled with addiction to cocaine, marijuana and alcohol, according to his lawyer, Jay N. Abramowitch. "This money was given to him to support the drug habit that Newman had created. I think the indictment will give the family some sense of justice," said Abramowitch, who praised prosecutors for their commitment to priest-abuse victims. The indictment unsealed Thursday charges Newman with six counts of felony theft and one count of felony forgery, the latter stemming from his alleged use of another friar's signature stamp on a $32,000 check. Prosecutors believe that Newman sexually abused at least three or four other underage students during his time at Archbishop Ryan, where he spent nine years as principal and 13 years as a religion teacher before his promotion to president. After his dismissal from the school, Newman was treated for pedophilia at an archdiocesan treatment center and now lives at a Franciscan retirement home in Pulaski, Wis., according the indictment. He remains a restricted member of the order, Abraham said. Her office will seek to extradite him to Philadelphia in the coming days. "Instead of living a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience he chose to live a life of lechery, debauchery, drinking and drug use," Abraham said. It was not immediately clear if Newman has retained a criminal lawyer. The Franciscans had no comment, according to a person who answered the phone at their headquarters in Franklin, Wis. According to the indictment, Newman had exclusive control over at least five bank accounts and directed a school bookkeeper to give him $10,800 from a tuition assistance fund and $2,800 from a bingo fund for Baselice. He also sold off two expensive grand pianos and made out 111 Franciscan order checks totaling $552,000 to "cash" over the 15 months. According to Abramowitch, Newman targeted his client because he was a good-looking, athletic teenager, and then destroyed him through deviant sex and debilitating drugs. The stolen funds he gave him - years after the sexual relationship had ended - fed the young man's drug habit even as Baselice's family was trying to get him help, Abramowitch said. Baselice, the son of a Philadelphia police officer, went public with his accusations when he filed the civil suit in 2004, but state courts rejected the suit because of legal time limits. In September 2005, Abraham's office issued a stunning grand jury report that documented alleged assaults on minors by more than 60 Philadelphia Archdiocese priests since 1967, and accused church leaders of covering them up. The report did not name Newman. Prosecutors bitterly concluded that the crimes had occurred too long ago to prosecute under Pennsylvania law, and urged the Legislature to reform the statute. On Nov. 30, 2006, their efforts paid off when the governor signed a bill raised the deadline for future child sex-abuse victims to file civil suits from age 30 to age 50. Baselice overdosed that same day.
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