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Self-Anointed Monk Arrested

By Dennis Magee
Wcf Courier
March 21, 2012

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/self-annointed-monk-arrested/article_2bbff988-7382-11e1-8a30-0019bb2963f4.html

Ryan Patrich Scott Gevelinger, also known as the Ryan St. Anne Scott, leaves the Knox County Courthouse in Galesburg, Ill., after a creditors meeting Friday, Jan. 13, 2012.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. --- The figure some in Buchanan County knew as the Most Rev. and Lord Abbot Ryan St. Anne Scott is awaiting extradition today in the St. Louis County Jail.

"We'll probably go get him at the beginning of the week," said Sgt. Scott Cordle, chief of jail operations for the Knox County Sheriff's Office in Illinois.

Scott, a self-anointed monk, is facing three counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person; three counts of theft and one count of deceptive practices, according to Cordle. Each charge is a felony in Illinois.

Authorities issued the arrest warrant Feb. 29. Deputies collected Scott at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at a house on Sweet Gum Drive in St. Louis. One of Scott's associates, Thomas Bertke, reportedly lives there.

Bertke is also known as Brother Isaac, according to public documents. He is listed as one of the initial directors for the corporation Scott set up in Iowa called the Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, an alleged "traditional" Roman Catholic institution.

Scott put himself down as president of the corporation and used the entity to arrange a real estate contract with county supervisors for the former Buchanan County home near Independence. He never insured the property as required, however, and County Attorney Shawn Harden nullified the purchase agreement.

Scott and his small group of followers abandoned the property in January just ahead of a formal eviction. He owed more than $100,000 on the former county home at the time.

Controversy has followed Scott, whose real name is Randell Stocks, for decades. Court documents, police records and Scott's own writings reveal a string of failed ventures and lawsuits. Catholic church officials since the early 1990s have denounced Scott as a fraud and not a legitimately ordained priest.

The paper trail crosses at least seven states and into Canada, and he has a felony conviction for cashing a fraudulent check while a public employee with the city of Edgerton, Wis.

Scott filed for bankruptcy in Illinois on behalf of his corporation, the Holy Rosary Abbey, in December. He filed for personal bankruptcy in Iowa a few days later.

Those cases are still pending. Scott, though, has not participated in multiple related hearings and has so far failed to file required documents as ordered by federal bankruptcy courts in Iowa and in Illinois.

His most recent attorney, Brian Pondenis, quit because Scott was not cooperating or providing accurate information.

Contact: dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com




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