LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY WIL CRUZ
Newsday Staff Writer
March 23, 2006
The former priest from Pennsylvania who was busted in Nassau on his way to a tryst with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy was carrying beer, candy and gay pornography, police said yesterday.
After more than a year of on-line communication with a Nassau police detective posing as a teenager, Thomas J. Bender of Macungie, Pa., drove 2 1/2 hours to meet the perceived teenager at an undisclosed location on Long Island. The plan, police said, was to go to a hotel for sex.
When he was arrested Tuesday night, Bender, 72, was carrying an assortment of candies, two Beck's beers, two condoms and a gay pornographic DVD. Police also recovered a laptop computer and a personal computer at Bender's home, which will be examined to see whether Bender had inappropriate communication with children.
Bender was charged with five counts of disseminating indecent material to a minor, a felony, and a single count of attempted criminal sexual act, a misdemeanor, police said. Each count of the first charge carries a maximum sentence of 1 to 4 years in prison.