Toronto Priest Exploited Position to Sexually Assault Women

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A disgraced Romanian Orthodox priest admitted to sexually assaulting 10 women, exploiting his position to victimise them in church, during confessions, and in other places. Ioan Pop, 56, used his holy position to fondle, kiss, and make unwanted sexual advances at women from April 1999 through September 2013. The assaults occurred whilst victims sought religious services such as confessions, weddings, and funerals. Pop also tried to confine, seduce, and spark an affair with a despondent woman in 1999. The court heard that he vowed to curse her and her family for generations if she exposed him. Pop pleaded guilty to seven sexual assault charges, but he also admitted the facts on three other allegations. The judge can then weigh those facts as an aggravating factor on sentencing, which could result in a more severe sentence. Crown attorney Jackie Garrity read out the disturbing facts to Justice Peter Hryn.

The Romanian women, whose identifies are under a publication ban, ranged in age from early 20s to mid-30s. Pop kissed one woman on the mouth whilst he was performing a memorial service for her grandmother in All Saints Romanian Orthodox Church in February 2009. Pop groped the breast and kissed the knee of another married woman during a confession in November or December 2011. Garrity said that he also told her what he’d do to her sexually “if he were her husband”, and then told her she was “his angel and that he wanted to spend days with her”.

The court heard that one victim emigrated to Canada with her husband and young child. Her husband became gravely ill. The devoted wife attended his hospital bed every day and in July ’99, she reached out to Pop to bless her dying spouse. Testimony stated that the woman and Pop were going to the hospital when they stopped off at a friend’s home “to pick up some religious robes”. Once inside, Pop propositioned the woman, who vehemently rejected him. He restrained her by his forceful hugs as she threatened to scream to escape. Garrity said, “Pop said, ‘No one would know as he was a priest and he could not tell anyone’”. The terrified, crying woman finally left with Pop. He threatened to curse her and her family “for generations to come” if she revealed the incident. Garrity said that the victim took “this threat very seriously” and never reported it until after the police first charged Pop in September 2013 after another woman complained he molested and licked her in church when she sought his help in a child custody matter. The ’99 victim and 12 others came forward after the 2013 victim’s complaint became public.

In another incident, Pop, now 56, visited a 24-year-old East York woman’s apartment home to bless it in July 2006. Garrity told Hryn, “Pop suddenly stopped the ritual, and began crying and talking to the victim about women who suffer breast cancer, describing the fact that many women do not survive this illness. Ultimately, he offered to bless the woman’s breasts. She was concerned that the priest had some kind of premonition that she herself may have breast cancer”. The victim agreed to the blessing. Garrity said that he “put his hand inside her top, making the sign of the cross of her bare nipples with holy water to purportedly bless her breasts”. He then “hugged her tightly for about 30 seconds … in what the victim perceived to be a sexual manner”.

Pop, who emigrated to Canada in 1999 with his wife and two children, started a religious community in East York and then built All Saints Romanian Orthodox Church at 545 Danforth Road in Scarborough, where he served from 2004 until 2013. A court order now bars him from practising as a priest. His prominent lawyer Joseph Neuberger said, “He was a very caring priest who contributed so much to the Romanian community, from fundraising to accommodating the poor and distressed families”. Neuberger said that Pop “went beyond the boundaries of permissible behaviour after his daughter’s tragic death a few years after he came to Canada”. Pop’s sentencing will be on 23 June.

6 May 2015

Sam Pazzano

Toronto (ON) Sun

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/06/priest-exploited-position-to-sexually-assault-women

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Anti-Child Abuse Advocates Oppose Eliel’s Nomination… As Do I

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Read this. Here’s the real-deal part:

Cappy Larson, one of the founders of Pokrov.org and now also a SNAP leader, was incredulous that Eliel had been nominated, “The OCA is still reeling from the conviction of Archbishop Seraphim Storheim for the sexual abuse of a child. I can’t believe the assembly would seriously consider a man who spent so much time in the company of two notorious sexual predators, and has yet to say a public word against either. I hope that the synod of bishops has more sense than to elect a candidate who thinks it’s more important to conceal predators then to protect the vulnerable and help heal the wounded”. Melanie Jula Sakoda, also of Pokrov.org and SNAP, agreed, “If the OCA is serious about changing the way abuse is handled in their Church, Eliel seems like precisely the wrong kind of candidate”.

Paffhausen protected Storheim and Izzy Brittain… Paffhausen was another Podmo supporter… Eliel was one of Paffhausen’s gay caballeros (along with David Brum)… we DON’T need “more of the same”. Look at Paffso and look at Moriak… ’nuff said. The konvertsy have to be reined in, full stop. Eliel refused to leave Podmo after Podmo got the gate from the ROCOR Holy Synod. Actions have consequences… if he supported pervs twice, I’d not take a chance. Just sayin’…

BMD

Local Monastery Student Pleads Not Guilty to Indecent Solicitation Charges

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According to authorities, a Libertyville IL man recently charged with indecent solicitation of a minor was in his fourth and final year of training to become a monk at the St Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery near the village. On Wednesday, 29 October, Dario Spasic, 22, pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent solicitation of a minor under the age of 17, a Class 3 felony that carries a potential prison sentence of two to five years. A conviction can also result in a probationary sentence. Cops arrested and charged Spasic in September, after he allegedly agreed on the Internet to meet in person with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. Officials said that he chatted online with a member of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said Spasic, who’s from Ohio, was living on Milwaukee Avenue in unincorporated Libertyville when the incident took place. She said that he was in his fourth year as a student at the Serbian Monastery, also located on Milwaukee Avenue north of Libertyville. Spasic was initially jailed on 100,000 USD (4.32 million Roubles. 612,000 Renminbi. 6.14 million INR. 112,000 CAD. 114,000 AUD. 79,000 Euros. 62,500 UK Pounds) bond, but subsequently bonded out and the court allows him to live in Ohio with his parents, whilst being monitored by the court’s pre-trial services department. Stanton said the state had objected to allowing him to reside out of state prior to trial, but that he’s required to attend every hearing in person. He was present Wednesday for his arraignment before Judge George Bridges. According to sheriff’s police, Spasic used a social networking application to set up a 22.00 meeting with the boy that he thought was 14 years old, but instead of that, a sheriff’s office detective was waiting for him. according to the sheriff’s office , he allegedly told investigators that he set up the meeting “to engage in sexual activities”.

29 October 2014

Jim Newton

Libertyville (IL) Review

http://libertyville.suntimes.com/2014/10/29/local-monestary-student-pleads-guilty-sex-charges/

Cops Nick St Sava Seminary Student for Child Solicitation in IL

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The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said that they charged a 22-year-old student at a theological college in Lake County with indecent solicitation of a child. According to a sheriff’s press release issued today, on Friday, Dario Spasić contacted someone whom he thought was a 14-year-old boy through a mobile social networking app, and arranged for a meeting at 22.00 the same day. Authorities said that Spasić actually communicated with a detective from the sheriff’s cybercrimes unit posing as an underage boy. When Spasić arrived for the meeting, the cops arrested him. The sheriff’s office confirmed that Spasić is a student at St Sava School of Theology in Libertyville IL, and the address the department provided for him is the same block as the school’s location. According to the school’s website, St Sava provides religious education and trains students for the Serbian Orthodox priesthood. A man who answered the phone at the campus in Libertyville, identifying himself as the property manager, confirmed that there’s a student there by the same name, but deferred further questions to another priest, who we couldn’t immediately reach. According to a sheriff’s press release, the arrested man “requested to meet with (someone) who he believed was the 14-year-old boy” with the intent to engage in sexual activities. Spasić remains at Lake County Jail, with bond set at 100,000 USD (3.84 million Roubles. 614,000 Renminbi. 6.1 million INR. 111,000 CAD. 113,500 AUD. 79,000 Euros. 62,000 UK Pounds). He’s set to appear in court on Wednesday.

22 September 2014

Lisa Black

Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/libertyville/chi-seminary-student-child-solicitation-20140922-story.html