OHIO
Star Beacon
By SHELLEY TERRY – sterry@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
JEFFERSON — A man accused of extorting more than $100,000 from an area priest will spend the next several years in prison, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas Sartini said Tuesday.
Brian Gaster, 27, of Ashtabula, was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday morning. Gaster pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Gaster’s actions resulted in the resignation of the Rev. Stephen Wassie, 59, from St. Joseph Calasanctius in Jefferson in May 2011. The circumstances surrounding Wassie’s resignation related to the handling of finances at the parish, according to the Most Rev. George V. Murry, the diocese’s bishop, on May 15, 2011.
“This defendant specifically targeted a priest in order to take advantage of his trust and charity,” DeWine said. “The victim genuinely thought this man and his family needed help, but the only help the defendant needed was help funding his drug addiction.”
Investigators said Gaster lied to Wassie, telling him that he had a seriously ill child and that a family member had been kidnapped and needed thousands of dollars for ransom.
Wassie gave Gaster $133,000 of his personal savings and parish money, investigators said.
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