Archdiocese Decides to Take No Action in Case of Midland Park Priest under Investigation

By Jeff Green
Rete L'Abuso
October 2, 2015

http://www.northjersey.com/community-news/2.4225/midland-park-priest-allegedly-accepted-gifts-1.1423768

The Newark Archdiocese has declined to take any action concerning a Midland Park priest who is under investigation for allegedly accepting more than $250,000 in cash, checks and gifts from elderly members of an Essex County parish where he worked last year.

Jim Goodness, an archdiocese spokesman, called the investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office a "personal issue" for the Rev. Alex Orozco to deal with, because neither the archdiocese nor any of its parishes were harmed.

No charges have been filed in the case. Orozco, 37, is being investigated on claims he took large sums of money from wealthy elderly women when he was assigned to St. Rose of Lima Church in Short Hills. He used their cash and checks to buy cars, houses, plane tickets to his native Colombia and a big-screen TV among other items, according to an article first published by NJ Advance Media. In one case, when a woman — whom he called his "grandma" — asked for receipts for the purchases, Orozco failed to produce them, the report said.

Orozco did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. He told NJ Advance Media in an interview that he made mistakes in his solicitations but that parishioners "want to embrace me."

A spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment Thursday. Goodness said there would be no internal investigation while the law enforcement inquiry, which began in January, was continuing.

"We can't go in and make a determination while the prosecutor is conducting an active investigation," he said. "It could place the investigation in jeopardy."

An expert in church law said Thursday that Orozco's solicitation of money was not necessarily a canonical violation, even if he misrepresented to parishioners what he needed it for. The code of canon law is clear about prohibiting the production of false ecclesiastical documents and defrauding the church, but it is does not explicitly disallow the same activity with parishioners, said Charles Reid, a canon law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.

"The law doesn't precisely extend or cover his relationship with parishioners, but we hope that diocesan policy would say that you do not engage in questionable financial activity involving the people you pastor, minister to, serve on a daily basis," Reid said.

Criminal charges could be filed if the authorities could prove the priest misrepresented himself, he said. Parishioners also could sue him and the archdiocese in civil court relying on less rigorous burdens of proof.

At least one parishioner at Church of the Nativity in Midland Park, where Orozco was transferred last year, rose to the cleric's defense. Tammy Reilly, a member of the parish finance council and a Eucharistic minister, said the priest had never asked for one dime.

"I don't have any concern," she said. "I know him, I know Father Alex and I think he's a really good guy. There's always two sides to every story."

Reilly said she thinks the investigation was prompted by jealous relatives of the parishioners who were upset to learn that their money was given to the priest.

"I have a really hard time believing he is capable of something like this, seeing him interact with everyone in the church," Reilly said.

The only indication she said she had of the issue was before Mass a few weeks ago. Orozco, usually upbeat and smiling, was "visibly upset," Reilly said. He told her, "Please pray for me, I'm going through some trials," she said.

Another parishioner, Ambrose McGarry, said he also had not been solicited for money, and that Orozco seemed "very pleasant, very personable, interested in his religion." But the prospect of fraud was "really frightening," he said.

"It's alarming that something like that could happen," McGarry said. "I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens."

Email: greenj@northjersey.com