By Frank MacEachern
Greenwich Times
July 4, 2010
http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Reverend-charged-in-child-porn-case-worked-beside-533209.php
Kim-Marie Evans has an application on her iPhone that notifies her where sex offenders live.
But the news that a minister at a spiritualist church right beside her child's Old Greenwich School was arrested last week on charges of possession and transportation of child pornography in Massachusetts came as a shock to her.
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| Old Greenwich School, with the Albertson Memorial Church of Spiritualism on the left, on Monday, June 21, 2010. Photo by Helen Neafsey |
"That's so disturbing," Evans said Tuesday while standing outside the school. "It (the church) overlooks the playground."
The Rev. Simeon Stefanidakis, 59, the minister at Albertson Memorial Church of Spiritualism at 293 Sound Beach Ave., was charged with four counts of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography following an investigation led by the FBI.
The charges date from October 2008 and March 2009, before he moved to lead the Old Greenwich church. There are no allegations that any activity occurred in Greenwich.
Stefanidakis has been held in custody since his arrest on June 15 and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in U.S. District Court in Boston today at 9 a.m.
Stefanidakis lawyer, Jeanne M. Kempthorne, of Salem, Mass., declined to speak about the case on Monday.
Even though the Greenwich school is close it is separated by a six-foot high fence, Evans said the fact he was minister at the church is too close for comfort for her.
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| The Albertson Memorial Church of Spiritualism, left, and Old Greenwich School on Monday, June 21, 2010. Photo by Helen Neafsey |
But another parent of an Old Greenwich School parent, Jean Fulton, said there isn't any connection between the school and the church.
"As close as it is to the school, it is a very separate entity," she said.
There is a minister's residence beside the church but Stefanidakis never lived there since his arrival because it is under renovation, acccording to Rosemary Calderalo, president of the church's board of directors. She said he lived in Stamford close to the Greenwich town line. Investigators didn't release his address other than to say he was an Old Greenwich resident.
Calderalo credited Stefanidakis with attracting more followers in the year he's been at the church.
"This is somebody who was loved and served our church faithfully and well. We never had any issues or concerns, and we have to honor that. At the same time we acknowledge the situation, and we put the church community first."
"Obviously it's a hard day," she said Sunday following the congregation's first service since Stefanidakis arrest. "It is a tremendous shock, and it's been very emotional."
Despite the charges, Calderalo said the congregation's faith is steadfast.
"We stood firm in our faith, which believes in love for all, and we sent out prayers of love for Reverend Simeon, and we gathered the membership together because even though this is heart-aching and we're offering our prayers to Reverend Simeon for this process, we know that it's about church and community, and we gathered together to talk about moving forward."
Two of the board members met with Stefanidakis since his arrest, she said.
"His only conversation was worrying about the church, which we knew he would," Calderalo said.
The church will be using visiting ministers to replace Stefanidakis. and on Sunday Rev. Kathy Rotino, pastor First Spiritualist Church Of Willimantic, led services on Sunday.
She said her message wasn't any different than her regular sermons.
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| Albertson Memorial Church of Spiritualism's parsonage, left, and the church on Monday, June 21, 2010. Photo by Helen Neafsey |
"Spiritualists deal in reality. They cannot change what happened in the past few days, but they are not going to stay and dwell upon it. They're not going to stay stagnant," she said.
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| Albertson Memorial Church of Spiritualism next to Old Greenwich School, behind trees at right, on Monday, June 21, 2010. Photo by Helen Neafsey |
"It's not that they are not going to deal with it. There will be hard decisions that members of this church are going to have to make. It is not going to be easy. Some of them are not going to be enjoyable, but they will do them, and they will get through this, and they will go on. So for me to come here and dwell upon it -- that wouldn't be where I would come from," Rotino said.
Contact: frank.maceachern@scni.com
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