By Kerry Burke
New York Daily News
November 10, 2007
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/11/10/2007-11-10_conan_obriencrazed_priest_off_his_meds_l-1.html
The Catholic priest collared on charges of stalking talk show host Conan O'Brien emerged from behind bars yesterday with a huge grin and a cryptic comment.
"The story's going to unfold," the Rev. David Ajemian said.
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| The Rev. David Ajemian exits grinning from Manhattan Criminal Court after being released on $2,500 bail on charges of stalking late-night host Conan O'Brien (below). |
He smiled for the cameras as he walked out of Manhattan Criminal Court and into his parents' cab after being jailed last week on charges of dogging O'Brien with a series of bizarre letters and Internet postings.
"This is a mental problem, not a prison problem," Ajemian's father, Richard, told reporters outside the courthouse. "We didn't see this coming. It came out of nowhere."
Earlier at the priest's bail hearing, his attorney, Eric Seiff, argued that his client "poses no danger."
Ajemian's parents sat through the proceeding as lawyers discussed their son's long bout with mental illness. Then, within two hours, they returned with Seiff and the $2,500 needed to bail him out.
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"The struggle my client has had with his medication has gone on for many, many years," Seiff said, adding that Ajemian, 46, has been off his meds for seven days.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott ordered Ajemian to receive all the medical attention he needs.
"One way or another, we're going to get him into hospitalization," Clott said.
The Boston priest was locked up Nov. 2 while he waited to get into a taping of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in Rockefeller Center.
Authorities said they charged him with stalking and aggravated harassment after he sent O'Brien a note vowing to be at that day's taping.
It was one of Ajemian's latest attempts to connect to the comic, who had been besieged with rambling notes from the cleric. In one note, Ajemian described himself as O'Brien's "most dangerous fan" and "your priest-stalker," cops said.
Ajemian is accused of sending O'Brien a note - signed "Padre 009" - saying he had been tracking the comic "through time and space" and holding out hope that he would be acknowledged in the "Late Night" audience.
Ajemian, who was ordained in 2001, and O'Brien are Harvard men. They attended the Ivy League school in the early 1980s.
"He's a good priest. He just has psychological difficulties," said the Rev. John Hannon, who served as Ajemian's mentor at a parish in Hanson, Mass. "I consider him a friend, and now he's a friend in need."
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