City Man Gets 7 Years for Extorting Former Area Priest

By Shelley Terry
Star Beacon
May 29, 2013

http://starbeacon.com/local/x609265281/City-man-gets-7-years-for-extorting-former-area-priest

JEFFERSON — A man accused of extorting more than $100,000 from an area priest will spend the next several years in prison, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas Sartini said Tuesday.

Brian Gaster, 27, of Ashtabula, was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday morning. Gaster pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Gaster’s actions resulted in the resignation of the Rev. Stephen Wassie,  59, from St. Joseph Calasanctius in Jefferson in May 2011. The circumstances surrounding Wassie’s resignation related to the handling of finances at the parish, according to the Most Rev. George V. Murry, the diocese’s bishop, on May 15, 2011.

“This defendant specifically targeted a priest in order to take advantage of his trust and charity,” DeWine said. “The victim genuinely thought this man and his family needed help, but the only help the defendant needed was help funding his drug addiction.”

Investigators said Gaster lied to Wassie, telling him that he had a seriously ill child and that a family member had been kidnapped and needed thousands of dollars for ransom.

Wassie gave Gaster $133,000 of his personal savings and parish money, investigators said.

About $70,000 of that money came from parish funds, according to a Nov. 9, 2012 letter from the Diocese of Youngstown, which also stated Wassie was a “victim of a scheme of extortion fraud.”

The judge on Friday ordered Gaster to pay restitution, authorities said.

“This case involved hours of law enforcement effort and many victims, including a kind-hearted priest whose willingness to help the downtrodden was abused by a professional con artist,” Assistant Ashtabula County Prosecutor Margaret Draper said. “It is truly the worst kind of crime, and a seven year sentence just begins to address the magnitude of the harm inflicted on our community by his actions.”

Wassie, who is a priest in residence at St. Paul Church in Salem, Ohio, could not be reached for comment.

Officials at the Diocese have said procedures are now in place for the parish finance council to review all bank statements on a monthly basis.

Prosecutors also connected Gaster to a series of Ashtabula County burglaries.

Agents with the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) investigated the case with the help of the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office.

 According to Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court’s records, Gaster has been convicted of theft in the past.

Contact: sterry@starbeacon.com