By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald
November 8, 2007
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1043378
In a series of startling and strange notes obtained by the Herald this morning, the Massachusetts Catholic priest who allegedly stalked Conan O'Brien also targets tennis great John McEnroe and compares himself to the Virginia Tech serial killer.
The Manhattan District Court documents show Rev. David Ajemian, 46, who worked at a Stoneham Catholic church recently and is being held without bail, sent at least three threatening letters to O'Brien. In them he demands a "public confession" and calls McEnroe his "childhood nemesis."
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Boston native Conan O'Brien. Photo by The AP |
"This is your priest stalker again, the one who has been tracking you through space and time," Ajemian allegedly wrote to O'Brien in February, signing the missive "Padre 009," according to court documents.
Ajemian also claims to have gone to a private school in Manhattan with hot-tempered tennis star McEnroe, whom he claims beat him up.
"John McEnroe ... assaulted me once in the seventh grade when I wouldn't give up my seat to him ... (I'm) coming to Boston next week for an old-timers' tournament at BU and I'll be in the stands waiting for his confession," reads the wide-ranging note Ajemian allegedly sent to O'Brien in April.
Ajemian, who was previously warned to stop bothering O'Brien, is due back in court tomorrow, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. He is charged with stalking in the fourth degree and two counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree. He was arrested on Friday trying to get into a taping of NBC's "Late Show with Conan O'Brien."
The notes, sent to O'Brien's work and home addresses starting in September 2006, are outlined incourt documents released by the district attorney's office:
- In a February letter, Ajemian complains about not being able to get into O'Brien's show, writing "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans???"
- In an April letter sent to O'Brien at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Ajemian allegedly wrote that, "I'm not Seung-Cho, even if I did once look out on that dark and dreaded doorway on West 72nd St." Seung-Hui Cho is the Virginia Tech student who killed himself after slaughtering 32 people on campus last year.
- In a July letter sent to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, signed "Dave Ajemian," Ajemian allegedly demanded from O'Brien a "public confession before I even consider giving you absolution."
Ajemian and O'Brien both attended Havard, but it is unclear whether they met there.
The case is jarring to some who know Ajemian.
Ajemian, who joined the priesthood late in life, is a "polite and sweet man," said Rose Abenstern, a retired college professor who lives in a Cambridge building where Ajemian's parents own a condo.
"This is absolutely shocking," she said. "I don't know why. Why would he be stalking Conan O'Brien?"
Parishioners at St. Patrick's Church in Stoneham, where Ajemian worked until recently, said he was there a short time.
"There was never anything odd about him," said one church member who didn't want his name used. "There was never any indication that something was off."
Another parishioner, who didn't want her name used, said she wasn't surprised the former priest was arrested for stalking O'Brien. She called his style "different."
Ajemian has been barred by the Boston archdiocese from publicly ministering.
The priest could face up to a year in prison if convicted on charges of aggravated harassment and stalking.
A woman who answered the phone at St. Patrick's this morning declined comment.
It appears Ajemian was most recently a priest at a Charlestown church and previously worked at a church in Brookline.
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