BishopAccountability.org
	Ex-asst. Principal of Bx. Catholic School Gets No-jail Deal in Kiddie-porn Bust By Douglas Montero, Jennifer Bain ônd Dan Mangan New York Post November 22, 2011 http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/kiddie_principal_porn_bust_catholic_DUAfnfAzkHvJmnfrHf4ASK The former assistant principal of a top all-boys Bronx Catholic school last week quietly received a sweet, no-jail sentence after pleading guilty to having kiddie porn on an electronic device at the school, it was revealed today. And now the Marist Brothers -- the religious order that runs Mount St. Michael Academy -- is refusing to answer whether ex-asst. principal Brother Lawrence Gordon has ever been previously accused of sexual misconduct with a child. The Marist Brothers also refuse to say what -- if anything -- was done to locate the young boys seen in the sick pictures on Gordon's USB drive found plugged into a computer the 65-year-old brother used at that school. "I'm not here to answer," sniffed Brother Ben Consigli, who heads the Marist order in the United States, when asked those questions by The Post today. Consigli also stonewalled when asked why the Marists did not alert the public in February -- when Gordon's porn stash was discovered -- so that any potential victims of his could have been notified and encouraged to contact authorities about any other possible wrongdoing by Gordon. Mount St. Michael Academy waited until March -- weeks after the discovery of the USB drive -- to notify the DA's office, according to a DA spokesman. In the meantime, students at the school were told that Gordon was absent from his job because he was "sick," several of those students said today. "What happened to all those promises by Catholic officials to be open and transparent about sex cases?" asked David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests. "It shows within Catholic institutions, there's been virtually no change, despite decades of crimes and cover-ups and prosecution and promises of reform," said Clohessy. "Common sense suggests here that church and school officials leaned hard on the criminal to quickly and quietly plea instead of acting responsibly, being honest, begging others for information to come forward." Alex Rodriguez, a 15-year-old freshman at the academy, said, "I think it's disgusting. I'm glad they kicked him out of school. My dad was really upset yesterday." Jose Rodriguez, a 47-year-old driver whose 7th-grade son is the third of his sons to attend Mount St. Michael, said, "The school mailed us a letter letting us know what happened [last week]. It should have been revealed last [winter] but the way the Catholic school and the churches are, that's the way they do things." "To have this so close to home is scary. My son's gotta learn to protect himself from everyone," Rodriguez said. This is an image-driven world we live in. The school was probably trying to protect him by not revealing it but with [the child molestation scandal involving a former football coach at] Penn State everyone is now covering their bases." Under an arrangement agreed to by the Bronx District Attorney, Gordon last Friday was arrested, pleaded guilty to 10 felony counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child and was sentenced, all within hours -- without notice to the media. The case only came to light today. As a sentence, Gordon was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment for at least a year, and then will be allowed to withdraw his plea. Gordon then will be allowed to plead guilty to merely a misdemeanor, and be placed on probation, court records show. The Marist Brother had been an assistant principal, specifically overseeing freshman, at Mount St. Michael Academy for several years before the incident last February that lead to his prosecution. The academy, which has grades 7 through 12, is located on a 22-acre campus in the Wakefield section of The Bronx. It boasts of being named an "Outstanding American High School" but U.S. News & World Report, and its almuni include rap impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs and former Baltimore Colts star Artie Donovan. On Feb.14 this year, a criminal complaint states, a teacher and member of the school's technology staff, James Hage, saw a USB electronic data storage device plugged into a computer that Gordon "had previously used." Gordon then told the school's president, Anthony Miserandino, "in sum and substance: That is my USB," the complaint said. The Bronx DA's office said that an attorney for the Marist Brothers contacted prosecutors about the discovery of the USB in March. When a DA investigator later inspected the USB, he found "more than 10 images of males under the age of 16 exposing [themselves] in a lewd manner," the complaint said. Asked why there was a more than nine-month lag between the discovery of the porn-laden USB and Gordon being arrested, Bronx DA spokesman Steven Reed said that Gordon "was hospitalized with a very serious medical condition." Reed also said, "There was no evidence of molestation or inappropriate relationship with any [Mount St. Michael] students." Under the plea deal formalized Friday, Gordon was ordered to enter, for at least six months an in-patient treatment program at the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md. -- a facility known for its work with sexually deviant clergy. Afterward, Gordon must spent at least another six months in the St. Luke's Halfway House, "have no interaction with children," and "must not use the Internet," the plea agreement said. If he successfully abides by those conditions, he will be allowed to withdraw his felony plea, and then plead to a misdemeanor and be sentenced again to probation. He will be barred from living anywhere where he could interact with kids, will have his computer and Internet use monitored by the superior in the Marist Brothers residence and must register as a sex offender. If he violated the conditions of his felony plea, Gordon will be sentence to up to 1-and-1/3-to-4 years in prison. Reed, the spokesman, said the type of sentence Gordon received -- in which he later will be allowed to withdraw his felony plea and enter a misdemeanor plea -- "happens often, it s not unusual." "This is not a case where children were molested," Reed noted. "There was no preferential treatment." Gordon's lawyer, Thomas Curran, said Gordon "cooperated with" the investigation. "And he was forthcoming, cooperative and remorseful for the circumstance," Curran said. "He did nothing untoward related to anyone at the school," Curran said. The lawyer also said that the boys seen in the lewd images on the USB drive were not students from the school. But he would not explain how that was ascertained. In the letter sent to parents last week, school president Miserandino and principal Brother Stephen Schlitte wrote, "Brother Lawrence Gordon, former assistant principal at Mount St. Michael academy, has been on leave since early this year." "He will not be returning to Mt. St. Michael because the administration discovered inappropriate images on his flash drive. We reported the matter to the Bronx County District Attorney's office," the letter said. "There are no allegations of misconduct against Brother Gordon in relation to his interactions with students of the Mount or any other persons. We have sought legal counsel and followed their direction at every step of the process. We have cooperated fully with the Bronx District Attorneys office during their investigation."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.