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	'Sexually Violent' Priest Won't Go Free By Dan Rozek Chicago Sun-Times March 20, 2008 http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/852924,CST-NWS-priest20.article He has served his prison sentence for molesting three boys, but a Roman Catholic priest will remain behind bars after a DuPage County jury concluded Wednesday he still is dangerous. The Rev. Fred Lenczycki, who has admitted fondling as many as 30 young boys, is the first clergyman in Illinois -- and possibly in the country -- to be confined as a sex offender in a locked mental health center after completing his prison term. Jurors deliberated for about two hours before determining the 63-year-old Lenczycki is a "sexually violent person" who poses a threat if he is released from custody. Lenczycki sat stoically as the verdict was read in a Wheaton courtroom after four days of testimony about his psychological condition and 25-year history of molesting young boys. He will remain in a secured state facility near Downstate Rushville for further mental health treatment, though his attorney said he expects to ask a judge later this year to order Lenczycki be released on a strictly monitored parole. Lenczycki was sentenced to five years in prison in 2004 after being convicted of molesting three boys at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale in the 1980s. In April 2006, shortly before Lenczycki was scheduled to be paroled, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett moved to have him committed to a mental health center. During his civil trial, prosecutors from Madigan's office pointed to Lenczycki's past as they argued that he posed a continued risk if released from prison. Lenczycki admitted to psychologists that he fondled or inappropriately touched as many as 30 boys while serving as a priest at six parishes in Illinois, California and Missouri. Some of the sexual abuse took place after Lenczycki went through a church-sponsored therapy program, said Assistant Attorney General Debra Blomgren. She argued that Lenczycki -- who is barred by the church from serving as a priest -- still poses a threat if released from prison now. "He doesn't have to be in a church to find a victim," she told jurors before they began deliberating. His attorney contended Lenczycki is remorseful, has served the sentence imposed on him and has completed several steps of a therapy program since being confined. "I'm not going to make any excuse for what he did. It is inexcusable, but it is history," attorney James Montgomery told jurors as he asked them to determine that Lenczycki isn't a danger if freed. A juror said the fact that Lenczycki hasn't completed his therapy program helped persuade the seven-woman, five-man jury to keep him locked up. "We looked at all the evidence and the stage of treatment he is in," said jury forewoman Linda Martin. Madigan said the civil suit was necessary to ensure that "Rev. Lenczycki would not be free to simply move back into society." Illinois in 1998 adopted its law allowing sexually violent persons to be confined even after they have finished their prison terms. At least 17 other states have similar laws, though Lenczycki is believed to be the first U.S. priest kept in custody under those laws, Madigan spokeswoman Robin Ziegler said. Birkett praised the verdict as "the right decision." "He clearly is not ready to be released into society," Birkett said.
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