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  Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Abuse Charges

By Rebecca Baker
The Journal News
May 12, 2009

http://lohud.com/article/20090512/NEWS02/905120410/-1/newsfront

WHITE PLAINS - A Catholic priest visiting Westchester County from Ecuador pleaded not guilty this morning to charges that he fondled a parishioner five years ago.

Richard Ordonez, 37, of St. Vito's Church in Mamaroneck, was arraigned on an indictment that includes three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of first-degree attempted sexual abuse. All of the charges are felonies.

Ordonez appeared before Westchester County Judge Jeffrey A. Cohen, with more than a dozen parishoners around him showing their support.

"They love him dearly and they're standing by him," said Ordonez's lawyer, Mary L. Bejarano. "They believe in his innocence."

Ordonez, who gave marriage counseling to the victim between Jan. 12-23, 2004, is accused of grabbing her and attempting to sexually assault her during their last counseling session, officials said. She fled the session and avoided him.

In 2008, after talking to a friend, she contacted village police to report the assaults, officials said. By that time, Ordonez was out of the country, but returned later that year.

Ordonez was arrested Dec. 8 by police at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he was about to board a plane with a one-way ticket to Ecuador.

If convicted of the top charge, Ordonez would face up to seven years in state prison.

Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, has said Ordonez's privileges to serve as a priest in the area were revoked and he probably could not serve as a priest anywhere else.

The diocese has no plans to look into the allegations and has deferred the matter to police and prosecutors, in part because Ordonez is not from the diocese.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News and on LoHud.com.

Contact: rebaker@lohud.com

 
 

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