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	Priest: Abuse Won't Happen Again By Alfonso A. Castillo Newsday [Long Island NY] March 3, 2005 Maintaining his sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy was a one-time offense that won't be repeated, defrocked Catholic priest Michael Hands defended himself Wednesday against allegations that he may have preyed on as many as six underage victims and could do so again. Hands, 38, who was released last April after serving 15 months in prison for abusing the teen in 2001, appeared in a Riverhead court hearing to determine his risk level as a registered sex offender. Saying Hands continues to dwell "in a dark corner of this world called child sexual abuse," prosecutor Donald Mates asked Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow to depart from the standard formula for assessing a sex offender's risk level and assign him to the highest category, level 3. That would mean Hands would remain on a state registry for 10 years, and would allow law enforcement to notify Hands' neighbors and publish his address. Hands, who has a separate conviction in Nassau County for abusing the same boy, was assigned a lesser risk level of 2 there, and his defense attorney, Peter Rubin, maintains he should be assigned the same in Suffolk. Rubin said his client is not a risk to reoffend because he has accepted responsibility for his actions and is receiving proper supervision and treatment. In the first day of the hearing, which resumes April 11, Dr. Richard Kroeger, a psychiatrist who treats sex offenders, testified that Hands poses an "extremely low danger" to his community. However, Mates said Kroeger did not have an accurate picture. He said that even after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with authorities, Hands was "trolling" the Internet for sexually explicit pictures of underage boys and looking to pick up minors in gay chat rooms. Mates said he also has proof of five other underage victims, including a boy who Hands sponsored at his Catholic confirmation. In a statement, the father of the boy Hands was convicted of molesting said he wants Braslow "to designate him as the highest risk offender, so wherever he goes, people will know what he's capable of." Authorities did not say where Hands is residing, but officials with the advocacy group Parents For Megan's Law said he is currently living in Brooklyn.
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