Priest Case May Go Back Further State Police Official Believes the Total Amount Embezzled Could Be More Than $1 Million, by Bill Freehling, Free Lance-Star, January 18, 2007

Priest Case May Go Back Further
State Police Official Believes the Total Amount Embezzled Could Be More Than $1 Million

By Bill Freehling
Free Lance-Star
January 18, 2007

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01182007/251876

Investigators looking into a Louisa County priest accused of embezzling money from two rural churches believe the scheme goes back longer than the six years written on the indictment.

Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, was indicted Jan. 8 on one count of embezzlement. Rodis had been pastor at St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Buckner between 1993 and May 2006.

Rev. Rodney L. Rodis

The indictment accuses him of stealing from the churches between September 2001 and October 2006. State police Sgt. Kevin Barrick said investigators are "sure" the thefts started earlier.

Barrick said federal law allows banks to destroy records after six years. Detectives have been able to search Rodis' bank records only back to 2001. Barrick said investigators have been hearing from many parishioners who made donations before 2001.

It's unclear the exact amount that Rodis is accused of stealing. Virginia's threshold for felony embezzlement is $200, so Rodis is formally charged of stealing only that amount. William Etherington, an attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, has estimated that Rodis stole $600,000.

Barrick said he expects that the total surpasses that estimate, and he "wouldn't be surprised" if it's more than $1 million. He said the total is "climbing every day."

Rodis is free on a $10,000 bond. His arraignment is this morning in Louisa Circuit Court.

Rodis was arrested Jan. 9 at his home at 5904 Watson Lane in Spotsylvania County. Joyce F. Sillador purchased the house in June 1994 for $114,929, according to the deed of trust filed in Spotsylvania Circuit Court.

Online records show Rodis lived there as far back as July 1994 with the 44-year-old Sillador, who sometimes used Rodis' last name. Neighbors said three girls estimated to range from elementary-school to college age lived there.

Etherington said it's his understanding that Rodis was not married, although neighbors assumed they were. It's unclear if the girls are Rodis' daughters. As a Catholic priest, Rodis isn't allowed to marry. The Richmond diocese had been unaware of Rodis' living arrangements.

Rodney Rodis' name appears on Spotsylvania land records regarding the Watson Lane house as far back as November 2001. A form dated May 26, 2006, showed that Rodis and Sillador paid off the last $76,000 owed on the house.

Detectives who searched the Watson Lane home found a "Lucky Money" receipt dated May 24, 2006, according to court documents. Lucky Money allows people to wire money between the U.S. and the Philippines.

Rodis, a native and citizen of the Philippines, retired from the two Louisa churches around the time the mortgage was paid off and the receipt was formulated.

Neighbors said Rodis had traveled to the Philippines. Etherington said he was in the U.S. on a religious worker's visa that expires in 2015. Rodis surrendered his passport to make bond.

One neighbor said that Rodis planned to return to the Philippines in a few years. He wanted to build a big house there, and run for mayor and, later, president.

Neighbors said they didn't know he was a priest. Some said they believed he was in the "import-export business." Neighbors said they were somewhat in the dark about Rodis' household.

Detectives who searched the home Dec. 11 seized a Dell laptop, contribution records, the St. Jude directory and donation list, information about accounts at Raymond James and Virginia Heartland Bank, and statements and checks from First Union Bank between June 1996 and July 2003.

The investigation began in November after a parishioner who donated $1,000 asked for a receipt, and there was no record.

Rodis' faculties have been suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, so he can't present himself publicly as a priest. The diocese hasn't said whether it will try to defrock Rodis. He was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Camillus in 1986; the sacraments he gave remain valid.

To reach BILL FREEHLING:540/374-5424 or Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com