SAGINAW (MI)
Saginaw News
March 27, 2019
By Cole Waterman
The day after a Catholic priest pleaded no contest to sexual assault and drug charges, prosecutors said it would have been foolish of him to have gone before a jury with the audio recordings they had.
The afternoon of Wednesday, March 27, Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner and Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Hoover convened a press conference in the Saginaw County courthouse to address the prior day’s developments for the Rev. Robert J. “Father Bob” DeLand. He pleaded no contest March 26 to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, gross indecency between two males, and manufacturing or distributing an imitation controlled substance. The most serious charge is second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony.
“Rolling the dice against tape recordings that we had probably would have been a foolish idea,” Gaertner said. “The tapes, that’s Robert DeLand talking. That’s not somebody saying what he said; that’s him saying exactly what he said. That’s powerful evidence.”
The tapes were recorded by a teenager who filed a police report against DeLand in November 2017, then went undercover in other interactions with the priest, equipped with a recording device provided by investigators.
“I can’t get into the mind of Robert DeLand,” Gaertner continued, “but I think, finally, when he realized — and this is just my opinion — that those tapes were going to be played, when his feet were put to the fire, and he knew those tapes were going to be played in court, he decided to make his decision.”
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