MOBILE (AL)
Lagniappe [Mobile AL]
October 12, 2023
By Kyle Hamrick
The former Mobile priest who in July fled to Europe with an 18-year-old woman who recently graduated from McGill-Toolen Catholic High School may soon have to leave the country when their travel clearance expires later this month.
Mobile attorney Christine Hernandez, a representative of the young woman’s family, said Wednesday Alex Crow, who was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Mobile over the summer, recently applied for residency in Italy, where he and the young woman have lived since the summer.
Because Italian authorities denied that application, Hernandez said Crow and the young woman will have to leave the country before their 90-day stay ends in the final weeks of October.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said Thursday afternoon he had “no knowledge” of the Italian government denying Crow’s request, but thought they made the right decision.
“I would hope they would deny that knowing the controversy surrounding him coming there,” Burch said.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Mobile County District Attorney’s Office continue to investigate whether Crow groomed the young woman with him, and others, when she was a student in high school.
Investigators with MCSO did not recover information from a laptop they obtained from Crow and the young woman in August to pursue criminal charges against Crow. As of today, MCSO is still waiting on results from a search of the young woman’s cell phone.
A spokeswoman for the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office said many people from the community have come forward with information since the summer, and the District Attorney’s Office is actively investigating Crow’s case on a wide scale.
“Anything that’s come across our desk, anybody that’s come and said anything, we’re looking into it,” Tara Zieman said. “We’re doing our best to determine what has happened, but we have not been able to communicate with the young lady involved.”
She said investigators are still waiting on additional documents from the Archdiocese. U.S. citizens do not have to have a tourist visa to visit Italy if they plan to stay for less than three months, according to the U.S. Department of State’s website. For visits longer than three months, American travelers must apply for a “permit of stay.” The website for the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Italy reads that
American tourists have to get a “declaration of presence” stamp when they arrive at an Italian airport.
The Most Rev. Thomas Rodi, archbishop of Mobile removed Crow’s priestly functions in July after he left Mobile with the recent McGill graduate, calling his actions “unbecoming” and “scandalous” in statements.
Rodi said in September no one reported accusations of “sexual misconduct” by Crow to the Archdiocese until after the cleric left the country. The Archdiocese is conducting an internal investigation into Crow’s behavior as well.