Former Priest Convicted of Child Molestation Moves to San Bernardino, NBC 4, January 18, 2006

Former Priest Convicted of Child Molestation Moves to San Bernardino

NBC 4
January 18, 2006

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/6227290/detail.html

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Neighbors were angry and even supporters admitted that convicted child molester and former Inland priest, Edward Anthony Rodrigue, will find it difficult to resume a normal life.

But Rodrigue will try to do that Jan. 25 when he is released from prison to a San Bernardino halfway house, NBC4 reported.

Rodrigue was sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting a developmentally disabled boy, NBC4 reported.

Rodrigue, who once told police he abused dozens of boys during his 20 years as a Catholic priest, is scheduled to live in a group home in a residential neighborhood along Interstate 215, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

Even though he will be wearing an ankle bracelet with a GPS monitoring device, residents are upset that the man, known as Father Tony, will be living within walking distance of an elementary school on the city's west side, NBC4 reported.

As a father of four, Manuel Padilla told NBC4 that he is furious that another pedophile is being paroled to his neighborhood.

"It's going to be a madhouse," Padilla said. "There's going to be a lot of controversy over it. It's not going to be the same for one. You've got a lot of parents, a lot of children out here, that are going to react."

Veronica Larious has three young sons and plans to tell everyone about the new neighbor.

"He can't live here because you know I'm scared for my three boys," Larious told NBC4.

Nineteen men sued the San Diego and San Bernardino archdioceses claiming the church failed to protect them from Rodrigue, NBC4 reported.

"He is no longer a Catholic priest," said Father Howard Lincoln, of the Diocese of San Bernardino. "He hasn't been for a number of years. We've had no contact with him at all for at least 15 years."