Priest Won't Come to Budd Lake after Town Officials Ask about Old Allegations
By Louis C. Hochman
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson has cancelled plans to appoint the Rev. Brando Ibarra to a Budd Lake church — at Ibarra's request — after township officials inquired about an allegation of sexual impropriety first made more than a decade ago. But the priest's lawyer, Bruce S. Rosen, says allegations are the result of a "ridiculous obsession" by accuser David Fagersten III, and has threatened to sue Fagersten over making them. Rosen told NJ.com Brando has never been charged in connection with the allegations, doesn't know of any criminal inquiry into the allegations and denies them outright. "Beginning more than a decade ago, and resuming in the past few weeks (since it was announced that Father Brando Ibarra was to be appointed as pastor to St. Jude Church in Budd Lake), David Fagersten III has engaged in a campaign of falsely accusing Fr. Brando of a criminal and reprehensible offense which purportedly took place 15 years ago, as well as other vague and untrue allegations of misconduct," Rosen wrote in a July 29 statement sent to NJ.com on Brando's behalf. In a series of letters to the diocese beginning in 2001, Fagersten alleges he and Ibarra were engaged in a sexually intimate relationship from February 1996 to June 1998. In a 2004 letter to Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, he says that relationship "became dysfunctional and ended when Brando attempted to rape me." In the various letters, he repeatedly refers to Ibarra as a "sexual predator." Rosen, in the statement on Brando's behalf, said Brando "reports that the two men were friends at the seminary for a time before Mr. Fagersten became erratic and obsessive in his behavior, at which time Fr. Brando cut the friendship off." Fagersten also criticizes the diocese in his letters for what he says was an inadequate response to the allegations — telling then-Bishop Frank Joseph Rodimer in 2001 that the diocese was "obstructionist" in its defense of Brando, and alleging that he continued to make advances to other seminarians and priests. He says in the letter he won't be pursuing ordination because of the diocese's response — though both Rosen and Ken Mullaney, an attorney representing the diocese, both say the diocese decided months earlier to release Fagersten from the seminary. He continued the allegations in the 2004 letter to Serratelli, and said he'd told the Rev. Msgr. George F. Hundt that any new parish assignment "would warrent (sic) public disclosure of Brando's sexually abusive background." Serratelli wrote back in October of 2004 to say Fagersten could pursue the matter through the diocese's tribunal. "Please let us pray for each other and for the Church of Paterson," the bishop wrote at the time. Mount Olive assignment But Fagerston raised the allegations again in June, after learning about the plans to place Ibarra at St. Jude Parish in Budd Lake. He also makes various other claims of sexually inappropriate behavior, though he does not give details of those alleged incidents. "It's amazing that you people have held out on this for thirteen years and you have shown no interest in relieving the Church of Paterson of a known and acknowledged abuser in the presbyterate," he wrote. "In fact, you promote him. Now you want to foist this guy on the people of Budd Lake. Shame on you!" Fagerston, who now lives in Chicago, has not yet responded to messages left by NJ.com at the telephone number and email address listed on the correspondence, or at another phone number listed under his name in Illinois. In June, Fagerston sent copies of his letters to Mount Olive officials, prompting Mayor Rob Greenbaum to have business administrator Sean Canning write to the diocese, asking for any refutations or confirmations of the allegations. "I didn't know if it was true, but the allegations were obviously significant enough that it prompted me to have the business administrator write the letter," Greenbaum said. "That's really the extent of my involvement, to try and protect the community." Mount Olive sent its letter on June 12 of this year, and later provided NJ.com with a copy, as well as with copies of the letters Fagerston sent the township. In response to Mount Olive's inquiry, Serratelli wrote to Canning two days later, saying the allegations "concerned a time when Father Brando was a seminarian at Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois. The allegations do not in any way involve allegations pertaining to inappropriate contact with minors." Serretelli never directly addresses in his letter to Canning whether the diocese investigated the allegations, but says Brando "remains a priest in good standing." He also says Brando is considered declining the new assignment, "because he does not want to begin his new ministry under a cloud." Both Rosen and attorney Ken Mullaney, who represents the diocese, echoed the wording from that letter in describing why Brando ultimately asked Serratelli to rescind his appointment to St. Jude's. 'Ridiculous obsession' Mullaney said he wouldn't discuss any conclusions the diocese made about Fagersten's claims, because to do so could involve revealing private information about medical and psychological evaluations. "Whether those guys had a relationship or not, I don't know. They're the only people who would know that. But I'm not going to allow myself or allow the diocese to get in trouble by revealing confidential information," he said. A diocese newspaper had first announced in June Ibarra would take the Budd Lake post, but the diocese has since announced the Rev. Jesus Givira would take the post instead. "While Mr. Fagersten's allegations, last raised in 2004, have always been upsetting to Fr. Brando, they had no impact on Fr. Brando's service until the latest rounds of emails that Mr. Fagersten sent to elected officials, news media and others, as well as the inquiries and comments from Mt. Olive officials," Rosen wrote. On June 11 of this year, Rosen sent Fagersten a cease-and-desist letter, warning him to stop making the allegations. "Your ridiculous obsession with the fiction of a supposed 'attempted rape' 15 years ago at the conclusion of an equally fictional gay relationship between what you describe as two consenting adults is bad enough," he wrote. "While it is one thing to bring these falsehoods to the diocese for review, it is quite another to make these allegations publicly to the community at large, public officials, news media, unaffiliated church officials and others for which you have absolutely no reporting privilege under the law." Rosen said in his July 29 statement that Fagersten's response was to threaten that legal action would force "embarrassing civil discovery" of diocese officials, and to send copies of the cease-and-desist letter to media. "We are still very much considering action against Mr. Fagersten," Rosen wrote.
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