By Toni Earls
Irish Emigrant
December 21, 2010
http://www.irishemigrant.com/ie/go.asp?p=story&storyID=8052
 |
| Former priest Oliver O'Grady, who was deported from the U.S. in 2001 |
Oliver O'Grady (65), the defrocked Irish Catholic priest featured in the award-winning 2006 documentary Deliver Us From Evil was arrested in Dublin recently on child pornography charges. O'Grady was deported from the U.S. in 2001 after spending nearly seven years incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison in California.
Irish police detained O'Grady in the Dublin area last week before releasing him on $750 bond and scheduling a re-appearance in court Friday, where Detective Garda Johanna Doyle of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation confirmed the possibility of further charges.
As yet details about the alleged crime are scarce, although it has been speculated that when the ex-priest left his laptop on a plane, authorities discovered child pornography photos and videos on the computer itself, on an external hard drive and on a USB key.
O'Grady became infamous with the release of the documentary film in which he talked openly about molesting more than 20 children while he was moved from parish to parish in California during the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1993, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual abuse of children under 14. Convicted and jailed in 1994, he was paroled in 2000 after serving just half his sentence, and was deported to Ireland the following year.
Speaking with The Irish Emigrant, Joey Piscitelli, Northwest Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was not surprised by O'Grady's arrest. He called O'Grady "a perfect example of how these men are not curable. He is a sociopath, a child rapist, and he doesn't have a conscience…the last 30 years, every time he gets caught he does it again."
Piscitelli said that Church authorities on the west coast of America enabled O'Grady to repeatedly abuse children by personally transferring him from parish to parish, "knowing full well that he had already molested children."
Upon his deportation from the U.S., O'Grady moved to Rotterdam in Holland and volunteered at a Catholic parish, assuming a different identity, calling himself "Brother Francis."
However, parishioners recognized him when the documentary was shown on Dutch television in April and reported him to police. By the time authorities were notified, O'Grady had already fled the country.
In June, survivors of O'Grady's abuse in California reacted with fury when the Stockton Diocese, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, announced that the convicted pedophile would receive almost $100,000 in pension money over ten years as part of a deal that ensured he left the priesthood.
The Stockton Diocese has, to date, paid more than $20 million to the victims of O'Grady, with two more lawsuits just recently being settled, at a cost of $2 million.
Judge Patrick McMahon remanded O'Grady on continuing bail to appear again on January 28th. As part of his bail conditions O'Grady must sign on twice daily at Dublin's Harcourt Terrace Garda station, and has surrendered his passport to gardaí.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.