NEW JERSEY
Daily Record
Peggy Wright
January 21, 2015
Instead of forgiving and forgetting, a Catholic priest who was charged with threatening to kill a fellow cleric in Florham Park has filed a defamation lawsuit against his accuser and the Vocationist Fathers, the religious order to which he belongs.
The Rev. Frank P. Hreno, 51, and now living in Whippany, was accepted earlier this month into Morris County’s Pre-Trial Intervention program to resolve a charge of threatening to kill the Rev. Emeka Okwuosa, 37, on April 18 at the Florham Park-based Vocationist Fathers Retreat and Conference Center.
Hreno made no admissions of criminal wrongdoing to be admitted into PTI. If he successfully completes one year of probation supervision and counseling by another priest, the terroristic threat charge will be dismissed and he will not have a criminal record.
Hreno’s lawsuit, made public Wednesday in Superior Court, Morristown, accuses Okwuosa of defamation by allegedly making up a false story that Hreno threatened him and chased him and stabbed him in the arm with a 4-foot crucifix. Hreno only was criminally charged with terroristic threats. Though Okwuosa alleged he was attacked with a cross, authorities did not charge Hreno with that offense.
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