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	Pilarczyk Says Hiring Felon Was Wrong Background Checker Had Theft Conviction, Is Now in Prison By Dan Horn Cincinnati Enquirer May 23, 2006 http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060523/NEWS01/605230356/1056 Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk admitted Monday that church officials made a mistake by hiring a felon to help check the backgrounds of church employees. "I deeply regret the serious lapse in judgment," Pilarczyk said in a letter sent Monday to priests. He said the archdiocese never should have hired Alex Henties, who had a theft conviction, to supervise the background-check program. Henties, now in prison on theft-related charges, was fired last year. Church officials previously said they hired Henties because they thought he deserved a second chance. Pilarczyk's letter came just days after church officials suspended with pay Vince Frasher, the archdiocese's personnel director, pending the outcome of an investigation into Henties' claims that Frasher abused him when he was a child. Henties made the allegations to police last year after Frasher fired him. Frasher, who could not be reached Monday, has denied the accusations. Church officials say Henties signed a letter last year that states Frasher did not abuse him. They have turned the case over to Hamilton County prosecutors and have hired a private investigator to look into Henties' accusations. Church spokesman Dan Andriacco said the archdiocese's policy on child abuse accusations, adopted after abuse scandals erupted four years ago, requires Frasher's suspension. "Our policy does not only apply to priests," Andriacco said. Henties, 32, worked for the archdiocese in 2003-05 as the coordinator of the church's fingerprinting program, which conducts criminal background checks on all church employees and volunteers. Henties had a theft conviction when he was hired. Church officials say there is no evidence that Henties stole or misused anyone's personal information, but Pilarczyk said in his letter that he would hire an outside expert to evaluate the program. Critics of the archdiocese's leadership said Henties never should have been considered for the job. They also criticized Pilarczyk for waiting to suspend Frasher until WCPO-TV (Channel 9) included the allegations in a broadcast last week. "There were serious allegations made against him," said Christy Miller, Cincinnati's co-leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "This is a little more than a lapse in judgment." E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com
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