MENDHAM (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Associated Press
MENDHAM, N.J. - A priest officially suspended nearly two years ago on allegations that he molested two boys in the 1980s and 1990s faces charges of molesting four teens at a drug-treatment program in Morris County where he became a counselor.
Arrested in December, the Rev. Richard Mieliwocki, 58, was indicted Tuesday on charges of child endangerment and criminal sexual contact. Authorities said he improperly touched and made sexual comments to four males, ages 16 to 18, during therapy sessions last year at Daytop Village in Mendham.
"I'm very happy they indicted him," said the Rev. Joseph Hennen, Daytop's executive director. "That kind of conduct is absolutely intolerable."
The priest's lawyer, Thomas C. Pluciennik, said Mieliwocki might have employed "cutting-edge" therapy techniques but was not guilty of a crime.
Mieliwocki was removed from his priestly duties in February 1994 after church officials said they found evidence to support the claims of two men who said he had abused them at Our Lady of Sorrows in South Orange, N.J., beginning in 1988.