NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press
Written by
Dustin Racioppi
@dracioppi
The image in Melissa Thomson’s head when she thinks of her favorite priest, “Father Chris,” sitting in a county jail cell is enough to make her sick. The whole thing has made her sick.
“The thing about him, is he’s a very happy guy and he won’t hesitate to hug you or kiss you,” Thomson said of Father Chris, a native of India whose name is listed on court complaints as Marukudiyil Velan and in Diocese of Trenton literature as Velanmarukudiyil Christudas. “And the only thing I can think of is this was misconstrued.”
The police reports on Velan, 64, show alleged actions beyond misinterpretation. Velan, who has been with the Church of the Visitation on Mantoloking Road as a visiting priest since 2001, was visiting a family of the parish on Friday. According to criminal complaints against him, Velan “knowingly” touched and rubbed the genitals of a 13-year-old boy and walked behind the mother, reached around her neck, into her shirt and grabbed her right breast.
He was arrested on Saturday and has been sitting in Ocean County Jail in Toms River since. His bail is set at $75,000 and he was ordered to surrender his passport. The Asbury Park Press asked the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office for a photo of the suspect, but it declined. State law allows authorities discretion in releasing suspect photos, but they often refuse to do so, saying media publicity could affect their ability to select a jury.
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