PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian
Friday, August 12, 2005
NOELLE CROMBIE
Thomas Edward Smolka met with a prominent Portland attorney last year, describing how molestation at the hands of a priest in the 1950s drove him to alcohol and how he'd never disclosed the painful secret.
Smolka, federal prosecutors say, had done his homework before the meeting with attorney David Slader. He knew all about the Rev. Maurice Grammond, Oregon's most notorious priest pedophile. And he wanted Slader's help in getting $1 million from the Archdiocese of Portland.
Turned out Smolka was lying, and in U.S. District Court Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with his scam to defraud the Roman Catholic archdiocese.
He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number. He used a dead man's name to open a line of credit and obtain a credit card at Umpqua Bank.
Prosecutors will ask the judge to sentence Smolka to 37 months in prison.