ALBANY (NY)
WNYT NBC News Channel 13
September 5, 2017
By Mark Mulholland
[With video.]
Ballston Spa – A 51-year-old former Catholic priest was in court Tuesday morning, speaking softly. It’s a stark contrast to the hard time Michael Hands could be facing.
After he was convicted of sodomizing a 14-year-old in Suffolk County several years ago, Hands was tossed out of the priesthood.
In recent years, he’s been living and working at Easton Mountain near Greenwich, a resort that bills itself as a sanctuary and retreat “created by gay men as a gift to the world.”
According to their website, Hands was the membership director at Easton Mountain. He’s seen in several videos on YouTube promoting the resort’s programs. In one, Hands soaks in a hot tub and asks, “What does it mean to be whole? To be fully human and fully alive, I believe is probably the most attractive human being on the planet.”
It’s Hands’ attraction to children that police and prosecutors say has them worried. They say he contacted a child online and engaged in sex with him in Charlton in late July.
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