SOUTHFIELD (MI)
WJBK
March 14, 2018
A Michigan priest has been charged with sexual assault after a teenager said the priest fondled him, provided cash, and requested that they ‘party together’ with drugs. It started with two victims but police in Saginaw fear many more are out there.
Robert Deland, 71, went from the cloth to the jail jumpsuit. Known as Father Bob, he’s accused of preying on young men while a priest at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Freeland, near Saginaw. The charges involve a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old, who worked undercover to make the arrest.
Todd Weglarz with Fieger Law is representing the 17-year-old, who first met DeLand when he was 16 at his friend’s funeral after that friend committed suicide last May. The teen had been in legal trouble and it’s alleged the priest invited him to do community service at his church.
“It’s a progressive, gaining your trust-type thing, and then he starts moving in: Let’s start getting drugs, let’s party, I have a special bedroom for you.Then the assaults. Yes, this is very well calculated,” Weglarz said.
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