By Andrew Scott
Pocono Record
August 16, 2007
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/NEWS/708160318
Cresson — Serving time for assaulting and trying to rob a couple on their 2001 honeymoon at Mount Airy Resort, a former Altoona man is now charged with extorting a priest who reportedly has admitted to having sexual contact with him in a state prison chapel in Cambria County.
 |
| William Victor |
William Victor, 36, was charged Tuesday with extorting $7,607 from the Rev. Gerard Connolly, 66, who Victor said got him drunk with alcohol hidden in his office and "touched him in a sexual manner" during prison chapel counseling sessions, according to state police at Ebensburg. This sexual contact occurred five times between September and January at the state prison chapel in Cresson, police said.
Victor told Connolly he had secretly tape-recorded one of the incidents and sent the tape to a relative, who would turn it over to the media if Connolly did not provide money and other items from the prison, police said.
Connolly, who had been reassigned to an Altoona church at the time he was charged Tuesday, reportedly has admitted to bringing alcohol to the prison and having sexual contact with Victor. Meanwhile, Victor has been moved to the state prison in Huntingdon.
Charges against both men are the result of a lengthy investigation, police said.
Victor was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to more than 40 years for victimizing an Oklahoma couple on their 2001 honeymoon at Mount Airy Resort in Swiftwater.
Victor, posing as a TV repairman, entered the couple's hotel room with a gun and told them he was going to rob them. He forced the woman to tie her husband up with shoelaces in the bathroom and then took her to the sauna and made her strip and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint. The man managed to free himself and attacked Victor, knocking the gun from his hand and forcing him to flee the scene while the woman ran out screaming for help. Victor later was cornered by police after crashing his vehicle into a tree.
Victor and Connolly are scheduled for preliminary hearings at future dates in Cresson District Court.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.