Gresham Psychologist Bilked Catholic Diocese for Therapy in Priest Abuse Case
By Bryan Denson
A Portland judge sentenced a 73-year-old psychologist Friday to six months of home confinement for bilking a Catholic diocese in New Jersey out of more than $100,000 for services she did not perform. Carol Landesman of Gresham also must pay full restitution and undergo mental health treatment, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman ordered. Landesman attended the hearing, but didn't speak. Federal prosecutors described her in court papers as "extremely remorseful," with no criminal record. She has relinquished her psychologist's license and is unlikely to reoffend, they said. She wrote an apology full of contrition to the court and the archdiocese, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire M. Fay after Landesman's sentencing. The letter, which was not part of the public record, "certainly persuaded me," she said. Landesman's misdeeds began in the summer of 2004, when she started counseling a man identified in court papers as "W.C.," who was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Paterson, based in Clifton, New Jersey. W.C. had settled a lawsuit against the diocese for nearly $300,000. As part of the settlement, the diocese agreed to pay for W.C. and his wife to undergo four years of counseling. Landesman gave therapy to W.C. until 2010, billing the diocese for $101,530, according to a government sentencing memo. The psychotherapist also submitted invoices over the years totaling $113,770 for treating W.C.'s wife. But W.C.'s wife had decided not to be treated by Landesman. The psychologist made up fake invoices, sending regular bills to the diocese for services she had not rendered. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud last July.
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