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	Priest's Release from Prison Blocked By Dan Rozek drozek@suntimes.com Chicago Sun-Times April 11, 2006 http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest11.html His prison term ends today, but a Roman Catholic priest convicted of molesting three suburban boys will remain in custody after Illinois and DuPage County officials on Monday blocked -- at least temporarily -- his scheduled release. Invoking a state law designed to keep dangerous sex offenders locked up even after they have served their prison sentences, authorities halted the release of the Rev. Fred Lenczycki by seeking to have him committed to a mental hospital. The legal action stunned Lenczycki, 61, who pleaded guilty in January 2004 to fondling three boys while he was a priest in the mid-1980s at St. Isaac Jogues parish in Hinsdale. In return for his guilty plea, Lenczycki received a five-year prison term and was scheduled to be released today on parole. "He's distraught. He did not know it was coming," his attorney, Harry Smith, said Monday after a DuPage County judge determined there was probable cause to detain Lenczycki for mental health evaluations. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a petition Friday asking that Lenczycki be detained indefinitely under the state's Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. The law allows authorities to send convicted sex offenders who have completed prison sentences to mental hospitals for treatment if it can be shown they remain likely to commit other crimes. The legal filing also alleges Lenczycki molested at least five other boys while he was assigned to a California parish between 1986 and 1991. The filing marks the first time the law has been used to detain a convicted priest or clergyman, but it has been invoked more than 250 times since the law took effect in 1999. Instead of being released from the Dixon Correctional Center, Lenczycki now will be transferred to a secure hospital in Joliet operated by the state's Department of Human Services. He will be evaluated by mental health experts and at a later legal hearing authorities will try to prove he remains a danger to commit other sex crimes if he is released. If a judge or jury agrees, Lenczycki can be detained indefinitely. That thought doesn't sit well with Lenczycki family members, who say the priest has served his prison sentence and should be released. "Certainly, we're disappointed," said his cousin, Wayne Lenczycki. "I don't think he's dangerous. He's a kind and gentle person."
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