Open Lewdness Charges Filed against Local Priest, Woman

By Robert L. Baker
The Times-Tribune
May 25, 2013

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/open-lewdness-charges-filed-against-local-priest-woman-1.1495391

The police's discovery of a local priest and a Tunkhannock woman naked in the back seat of a Jeep at the Wyalusing Borough Park led to criminal charges this week.

More details emerged Friday about the incident on May 17 involving the Rev. Daniel Joseph Doherty, 49, who has been working as an assistant pastor in Tunkhannock and Lake Winola. On Thursday, the Diocese of Scranton announced that the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of Scranton, removed the Rev. Doherty's ability to exercise ministry pending the results of the investigation.

The Rev. Doherty and Joanne Mirabelli, 47, both of Tunkhannock, are each facing a misdemeanor count of open lewdness, and summary counts of being under the influence of an intoxicating beverage, participating in an obscene or indecent act and being in the park after it was closed.

Laceyville Patrolmen Matthew Chamberlain and Patrick Butkiewicz said they saw a 2011 Jeep Liberty and a 2011 Subaru parked in the Wyalusing Borough Park about 10 p.m.

They approached the vehicles to perform a welfare check, and as they drove up closer to the Jeep, Officer Chamberlain said he observed an unclothed female's back with her hair covering her face. Officer Butkiewicz activated the spotlight on the patrol car, and according to the complaint, "a male's head appeared from below the level of the window."

After waiting for the Rev. Doherty and Ms. Mirabelli to get dressed, the officers approached the vehicle. It was then they noticed a clerical collar on the dashboard of the Subaru. The reverend told the officers that he and Ms. Mirabelli were not having sex but did not answer when officers asked him what they were doing while naked in the back of the Jeep.

Both the Rev. Doherty and Ms. Mirabelli told police they each had three glasses of wine at the Wyalusing Hotel before arriving at the park.

Ms. Mirabelli agreed to submit to a breath-alcohol test, and the results were .240 percent, according to police. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is .08 percent.

The Rev. Doherty was assigned by the Diocese of Scranton as assistant pastor to Nativity B.V.M. Church, Tunkhannock, and St. Mary of the Lake Church, Lake Winola, on Feb. 1, 2012. He was baptized at Christ the King Church in Dunmore and attended St. Mary of Mount Carmel School and Bishop O'Hara High School. He graduated from the University of Scranton in 1985 and received his Master of Divinity from Seton Hall University in 1994.

The Rev. Doherty was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Scranton that same year. His diocesan assignments included assistant pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Wilkes-Barre. He also served as assistant pastor at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale before leaving the diocese to join the Society of St. Sulpice in 1999.