Daughter Suing 'Partying Priest', by Michael R. Sisak, Citizens Voice, March 29, 2011

Daughter Suing 'Partying Priest'

By Michael R. Sisak
Citizens Voice
March 29, 2011

http://citizensvoice.com/news/daughter-suing-partying-priest-1.1124860#axzz1HzN3QLNW

Lord have mercy.

Gregory Malia, the former Northeastern Pennsylvania Episcopal vicar dubbed "the partying priest" by a New York City tabloid, is being sued by his 24-year-old daughter for assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Luzerne County Court, is the latest legal twist in an ugly family drama that erupted two summers ago when Malia drew a gun during a fight outside a Jenkins Township bar.

Malia, 46, pleaded no contest last September to reckless endangerment and simple assault and agreed to serve two years of probation. Weeks after the fight, Malia's daughter filed a protection-from-abuse petition against him that included details of the altercation.

Now that same daughter, Marilyn, is seeking $100,000 in damages in a lawsuit that describes the conduct of Malia and his girlfriend, Angela Sweet, as "so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree" it went "beyond all possible bounds of decency."

Marilyn Malia also named Sweet as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Gregory Malia, who lives on Wall Street in New York City, could not be reached for comment. A telephone number connected to Sweet's Larksville address was disconnected.

Malia, the former vicar of St. James Episcopal Church in Dundaff, Susquehanna County, made national headlines in December 2008 when the New York Daily News painted him as a frequent guest at upscale city nightclubs and a patron willing to buy expensive champagne and leave five-figure tips.

Malia, formerly of Laflin, earned local notoriety after police said he pulled a .38-caliber handgun on two men who intervened in a fight July 7, 2009, outside the River Street Ale House in Jenkins Township.

The incident began when Malia unexpectedly ran into his two estranged daughters, a coincidence that resulted in Malia bumping into Marilyn, who doused him with beer, according to the lawsuit and criminal records.

The dispute spilled outside, with Sweet fighting Marilyn Malia, grabbing her hair and punching her in the back of the head, according to the lawsuit.

When Marilyn Malia's boyfriend tried to intervene, the former priest pulled his gun, chambered a round and pointed it at the two men, Dennis J. Condusta and Ronald J. Romashko, according to court documents.

That ended the fight, and Gregory Malia and his two friends fled in a black Jaguar, only to be arrested by Plains Township police shortly after, according to court documents.

msisak@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2061