The Rev. Fugee Makes First Court Appearance

By Kibret Markos
The Record
May 21, 2013

http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/The_Rev_Fugee_makes_first_cour_t_appearance.html

Rev. Michael Fugee made his first appearance before Judge Patrick Roma on charges that he broke an agreement with law enforcement to never work with children.

A former Wyckoff associate pastor said nothing during his first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court Tuesday morning, a day after his arrest for disobeying a judicial order that bars him from working with children.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, a former Wyckoff associate pastor who was allowed to continue working as a priest despite confessing to groping a 13-year-old boy, was arrested Monday. He had purposely disobeyed the judicial order that prohibited him from having contact with children, a prosecutor said during the hearing. Fugee had heard confessions from minors and attended a youth retreat on two occasions, the prosecutor said.

Fugee is charged with seven counts of violating the order.

Bail was set at $25,000 and Fugee was remanded to the Bergen County Jail.

Fugee did not have an attorney with him at the hearing, which lasted about a minute and a half.

Contact: markos@northjersey.com