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	Bail Set at $50,000 for Accused Mamaroneck Priest By Christine Pizzuti Christine Pizzuti December 11, 2008 http://lohud.com/article/20081211/NEWS02/812110498/-1/newsfront MAMARONECK - A visiting priest accused of sexual abuse is a "suspected felon" who was told not to leave the area, but instead was attempting to flee to his native Ecuador, a prosecutor said today. Westchester County Assistant District Attorney Heide Mason made the statement during a short court appearance for the priest, the Rev. Richard Ordonez, in Mamaroneck Village Court this morning. Orodonez, 37, a visiting priest at St. Vito's Church in Mamaroneck, was arrested Monday at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City. He had been held without bail since then on a charge of first-degree sex abuse, a felony. The complaint against him accuses him of touching an adult woman's victim's breasts and other intimate parts of her body "without her consent" and by "means of forcible compulsion" on New Year's Day 2004 at the church at 816 Underhill Ave., where he had a bedroom. Police said the woman came forward in September after learning that Ordonez, who had been out of the area, would be returning to the parish. The prosecutor's comments came after a lawyer representing Ordonez, Netikka Seward, said Ordonez had been questioned by police on Saturday and was under the impression he could leave the area. Seward said police did not specify whether Ordonez could leave the country. Seward asked for bail to be set at $1,000. Mason, however, said police had made it very clear to both Ordonez and the Rev. James Healy, St. Vito's pastor, that Ordonez was not to leave the jurisdiction. Healy, who was sitting in the audience, interjected, "That's not true." Mason said Ordonez was fleeing to a country where the United States does not have an extradition compact. She said the prosecution objected to bail, but if the judge wanted to set bail, she recommended $50,000. Village Justice Daniel Gallagher then set bail at that amount. Ordonez stood quietly, with his hands cuffed behind his back, during the approximately 15-minute court appearance. He was expected to be returned to the Westchester County jail afterward. Seward said she expected to ask for a further hearing to contest the bail amount. Ordonez is a member of the Salesians order in Ecuador and had the permission of his order as well as the local bishop to practice at the Mamaroneck parish. The New York Archdiocese this week was expected to revoke his permission to work as a priest in the area. Reach Christine Pizzuti at cpizzuti@lohud.com or 914-696-8291.
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