Rodney Rodis Pleads Not Guilty to Embezzlement Charges in Louisa County
By Bill Freehling
Free Lance-Star [Louisa VA]
March 31, 2007
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/032007/03312007/272058
A former Catholic priest in Louisa County pleaded not guilty yesterday to 13 charges of embezzling funds from the two churches he served.
Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, was arraigned yesterday in Louisa Circuit Court. Judge Timothy K. Sanner read the indictments to Rodis; after each one the priest quietly said "not guilty."
Some members of St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches, where Rodis was pastor for 13 years, whispered and murmured after the first few pleas.
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| Rodney Rodis listens while his attorney Jack Maus speaks to reporters outside the Louisa courthouse yesterday. |
State police have said Rodis may have stolen as much as $1 million from the two rural churches between 1995 and 2006.
A weeklong bench trial was scheduled for Oct. 1-5. Defense attorney Jack Maus said both he and Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Don Short thought it could be hard to pick a jury unfamiliar with the facts.
Maus also said it's possible that Rodis could plead guilty before the scheduled trial. Maus said at this point he hasn't seen enough of the prosecution's evidence to advise his client to do so.
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| The Rev. Rodney Rodis, photographed yesterday in Louisa County Circuit Court, before pleading not guilty to 13 charges of embezzlement. Photo by MIKE MORONES/THE FREE LANCE-STAR |
Rodis was originally indicted in January on one count of embezzlement. That charge alleged that he embezzled between September 2001 and October 2006. Bond was set at $10,000 for that charge.
Earlier this month, Rodis was indicted on 12 additional counts of embezzlement alleging that he stole during 12 separate six-month periods between September 1995 and September 2001. Rodis' bond was increased to $25,000 yesterday based on the new charges.
The terms of the bond require Rodis to remain at his Spotsylvania County home. He is not allowed to leave Virginia. A citizen of the Philippines, Rodis has already turned in his passport to authorities.
Short expressed some concern in court yesterday that Rodis might go to New Mexico and then cross the Mexican border. A woman and three children whom Rodis had been living with in Spotsylvania recently moved to New Mexico.
Maus has referred to 44-year-old Joyce Sillador and the children as Rodis' family but has said the former priest isn't married. Maus said Rodis would like to return to the Philippines someday but said if Rodis planned to flee "he would have done so by now."
Maus said that Rodis is currently drawing a retirement check from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Maus described Rodis' mood as "sad."
So is Cesar Rodriguez, a Filipino American who used to be a parishioner at St. Jude. Rodriguez was at the hearing and talked to reporters outside court.
"He destroyed the reputations of a lot of Filipino priests," Rodriguez said. "If he needed the money he could have just asked."
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5424
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
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