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	Priest Pleads Not Guilty to 13 Fraud, Money Laundering Counts By Larry O'Dell Daily Press September 6, 2007 http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--priestcharged0906sep06,0,409581.story RICHMOND, Va. - A Roman Catholic priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two Louisa County churches pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges Thursday. The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis waived his right to a jury trial. U.S. District Judge Richard Williams will hear the case beginning Oct. 25. The trial is expected to last three days. Rodis, 51, faces eight counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. Twelve of the counts are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, one by up to 10 years. According to federal prosecutors, Rodis embezzled money from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Church in Mineral from 2002 until last year. He allegedly wired at least $515,231 of the money to his native Philippines. Parishioners were stunned not only by the alleged embezzlement, but by revelations about their priest's family life. The indictment says Rodis lived with "his spouse Joyce Flores Sillador-Rodis and their three biological children." Prosecutors say Rodis used the misappropriated funds largely for his family, which he concealed by living some 50 miles from the churches. "To find out what is going on, I can't even describe how much it hurts," said St. Jude parishioner Kathleen Pfeiffer, who attended her former priest's five-minute court appearance. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond has said Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from the churches, where he was pastor from 1993 until he retired in May 2006 because of health problems. Rodis walked with a cane during Thursday's court appearance. Rob Wagner, the federal public defender, said afterward that his client had a stroke sometime back and is suffering from prostate cancer. Rodis originally was charged in state court with 13 embezzlement counts. The Louisa County prosecutor dropped those charges after Rodis was indicted last month by a federal grand jury. After being charged in state court, Rodis was released on $25,000 bond. That bond was revoked in May after Rodis violated his conditions of release by flying to Detroit to visit a sick child. He remains in custody in the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw.
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