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	Pinoy Ex-priest in US Appeals Embezzlement Conviction By Joseph G. Lariosa GMANews TV January 16, 2009 http://www.gmanews.tv/story/144541/Pinoy-ex-priest-in-US-appeals-embezzlement-conviction CHICAGO – A former priest from the Philippines has appealed a decision by a US jury convicting him of embezzlement charges. Rodney Lee Rodis, who is said to be from Cagayan de Oro City in the southern Philippines, was spared 200 years of imprisonment after Louisa County Judge Timothy Sanner reduced the sentence to 13 years at the sentencing last Wednesday in Louisa, Virginia. The judge also ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $432,000 to his victims. In a phone interview with this reporter, Rodis’ lawyer John “Jack" R. Maus said that he filed a notice of appeal after the sentencing and would elevate the matter to the Virginia Court of Appeals in Richmond. Maus quoted the former Roman Catholic priest as saying he was relieved that he did not get the maximum 200 years of imprisonment returned last October by a jury, which found him guilty of 10 counts of embezzlement. Prosecutors accused him of stealing a total of $1 million from two rural Virginia churches. Rodis is currently serving 63 months in federal prisons after being convicted by Judge Richard L. Williams of Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond last February for mail and wire frauds and money laundering based on the same set of facts. The 13 years imposed on him by Judge Sanner will run consecutively with the 63 months imposed by Judge Williams. "This is a related but different" case, Maus explained. Maus said that in his appeal, he will cite a Virginia statute that prohibits someone from being prosecuted in state courts when he was already prosecuted in a federal court.He will also anchor his appeal on the First Amendment right that prohibits the prosecution of someone whose conducts involve violations of church laws. Maus believes that his 52-year-old client will still be able taste freedom, saying that if Rodis will be able to serve 85 percent of his sentence and turns 60 years old, he can be eligible for parole if he served 10 years or if he turns 65 and serves five years in prison. At the state trial, Rodis said he stole the money donated to the two churches at St. Jude Church in Mineral, Virginia, and at the Immaculate Conception Church at Bumpass, Virginia to help his family and others in his native Philippines. But Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas A. Garrett Jr. said that Rodis invested in properties in the Philippines, including an upscale waterfront property. Deputy Prosecutor Rusty McGuire said Rodis also used the money to support his wife and three children. They were married in 1987 and lived in Fredericksburg with his family in violation of the vow of celibacy of the Catholic Church. At the sentencing last February, Judge Williams told Rodis he was getting the “high end" of the guidelines of the sentence because of his great breach of trust to both the Church and the parishioners. Rodis asked for forgiveness from the judge and the parishioners present during the sentencing. He also asked for leniency because of his medical condition, referring to his pancreatic cancer. But the judge said Rodis had made no effort to own up his mistakes. The prosecutors said Rodis was not forthcoming in giving up his embezzled property, including a beach house. Court records showed that Rodis has a wife, Joyce Flores Sillador-Rodis, and they had two biological children residing at 5904 Watson Lane, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Rodis was employed as a Catholic priest at St. Jude Church at 1937 Davis Highway, Mineral, Virginia, and at another church, the Immaculate Conception Church at Bumpass, Virginia. Both churches are under the Richmond Catholic Diocese. The indictment papers added that Rodis “solicited contributions from parishioners to support church expenses, including building debt reduction, cemetery funds, religious education and other church operations." The scheme to defraud started from “September 2002, and continued through in or about 2006." - GMANews.TV
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