Wisconsin Monk Charged for Attempted Abduction

Seattle Pi
April 28, 2013

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Wisconsin-monk-charged-for-attempted-abduction-4470473.php



NTIOCH, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a Benedictine monk from Wisconsin has been charged with trying to abduct an Illinois teenager.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1864id6) 57-year-old Thomas Chmura (shah-MOO'-rah) was arrested last week. He was charged with attempted child abduction and disorderly conduct and ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail Saturday.

Police allege the 14-year-old was walking in the northern Illinois community of Antioch when a man in a station wagon asked if she needed a ride. The girl ran and he drove off.

The teen recounted the description of the man and car to police. Chmura was arrested Friday.

He's been living at St. Benedict's Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., for more than three decades.

It was immediately unclear if he has an attorney. Messages left at St. Benedict's weren't returned.