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	Priest Held on $200,000 Bail for Alleged Rape By Cicero A. Estrella San Francisco Chronicle April 1, 2006 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/01/BAGANI1TRV1.DTL A Saratoga priest has been arrested for the alleged rape of an Oregon woman he had been counseling over the phone for the last year, authorities said on Friday. The Rev. Randy Benas, 45, of Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga was arrested Thursday and is being held on $200,000 bail at the Santa Clara County Jail, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Lt. Marty Dale said. "The staff and the parishioners are very surprised," said Elizabeth Lily, a parish minister. "There was nothing to suspect anything like this. People are in a state of disbelief." The 29-year-old Oregon woman alleged that Benas raped her early Tuesday morning after she met him at the Motel 6 on Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale. She was driving to visit friends in San Diego but had stopped in the Bay Area late Monday after Benas asked her to meet him for the first time, Dale said. They had been exchanging letters and about two phone calls a month for the last year, Dale said. "The victim viewed it as a counseling or mentoring relationship," Dale said. "The father's insight had helped her through struggles that she was having." The woman was looking for spiritual guidance a year ago when she sent inquiry letters to a number of priests around the country. Benas was the only one to respond, Dale said. Benas was ordained in his native Philippines in 1985, according to the Sacred Heart Parish Web site. He came to the Saratoga parish as a parochial vicar nearly three years ago and served at three other parishes in the Diocese of San Jose since 1993. Lily said she expects the diocese will place Benas on a leave of absence. "Once the court system completes its process, the Diocese of San Jose will have its own process of investigation and disposition," she said. E-mail Cicero A. Estrella at cestrella@sfchronicle.com.
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