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Archdiocese knew Sherwood priest fled US
By Amy Frazier
SHERWOOD, Ore. (KOIN) — A Catholic priest who had been a person of interest in the case of a camera hidden in a bathroom left the country in June, and the Archdiocese of Portland did not tell police he was gone. When Sherwood police went to arrest Fr. Ysrael Bien on misdemeanor charges, they learned he left for The Philippines more than a month ago, a development Sherwood Police Capt. Ty Hanlon called “discouraging.” “We’ve never been contacted by (the archdiocese) specifically with that kind of information,” Hanlon told KOIN 6 News. “It’s discouraging. We had hoped that we were working together with them on this case. To hear that information is certainly discouraging.” The case began in June. Police said a teenager discovered a camera disguised as an outlet on a bathroom wall at St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood. He allegedly told Fr. Bien about the camera, who then told the boy he would report it to police. But the priest never reported the discovery, despite telling the boy’s parents he did. Hanlon said there was nothing preventing Fr. Bien from leaving the country. “Although he was a person of interest from the beginning, he wasn’t or hadn’t been accused of anything, so he was free to leave if he chose.” Hanlon said they didn’t have any probable cause in the case until recently. “We received a phone call from an Internet surveillance company from Dallas, Texas saying they might have info about our St. Francis hidden camera case,” Hanlon said. Allen Walton of SpyGuy Security told KOIN 6 News by email their records revealed Bien bought the hidden camera from them. “We immediately contacted the Sherwood PD detective investigating the crime and was able to provide key information that resulted in his arrest warrant being issued,” Walton said. After a search warrant for the company records was obtained, the company – Spy Guy Security – “provided us with a transaction and a purchase of a wall socket hidden camera that came back to Ysrael Bien here in Sherwood.” Detectives found out the priest was out of the country when they went to arrest him on Tuesday. In an email to KOIN 6 News on Wednesday, Pat McCormick of AM-PM Public Relations said the archdiocese put Fr. Bien on administrative leave after the initial allegations. “It was not until July 29, 2015 that officials at the Archdiocese first became aware that Fr. Bien was in the Philippines,” McCormick said in the email. Archbishop Alexander Sample tried to reach him by phone, but Fr. Bien ignored the messages until July 27. Two days later, Bien told the archbishop he was in The Philippines and would not be back in the US until “after he was reinstated to active minstry,” McCormick said. On August 6 and again August 13, Sample wrote Bien and urged him to return to the US. Bien has not responded, McCormick said. The archbishop released a statement Tuesday that said the diocese finds it “gravely troubling” Fr. Bien was charged with a crime, but they are cooperating with the investigation by the Sherwood police. Fr. Bien faces charges of personal invasion of privacy, tampering with physical evidence and initiating a false police report. Sherwood police are now in a wait-and-see mode. “We’re hoping that (Fr. Bien) does return and I think the archdiocese have reached out to him,” Hanlon told KOIN 6 News. “Right now our only charges are misdemeanor charges, and extradition from The Philippines or wherever he may be could be difficult if not impossible,” Hanlon said. SpyGuy’s Walton said the company is making a donation “in the amount of Bien’s order to a non-profit organization in order to help the exact people Bien attempted to exploit.”
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