NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff
Ten months since a suspended Catholic priest was charged with molesting four teenage boys at a Mendham drug treatment program, the state is moving to have his social work license suspended.
Kara Wood, spokeswoman for the state Board of Social Work Examiners, said the board asked the Rev. Richard Mieliwocki, 58, of Madison, to agree to a voluntary suspension after the allegations became public, but he refused.
"Now that there has been an indictment, the board is moving ahead with the process to suspend his license, and a hearing will be scheduled for that purpose," Wood said.
Mieliwocki, who is employed as a counselor at Community Care Behavior Health in Piscataway, was indicted in August, charged with molesting and making sexual comments to the boys, ages 16 to 18, during therapy sessions at Daytop Village between March and December of 2004.
In court yesterday, Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez offered Mieliwocki a plea deal that calls for a five- to seven-year prison sentence.
Defense attorney, Thomas C. Pluciennik, said Mieliwocki would not plead guilty because he didn't commit any crime.