RP priest gets 5 yrs jailterm in US for embezzlement

CHICAGO, Illinois – Filipino priest Rev. Rodney L. Rodis was sentenced Thursday, Feb. 21, to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering to 63 months each in federal prison and was ordered to pay full restitution to the Catholic Diocese of Virginia in the amount of $591,484.08. Rodis, 51, of Fredericksburg, Virginia and believed to have hailed from Cagayan de Oro City in the Philippines, will be serving the more than five years of prison terms concurrently and will be credited for time served, according to Laura Taylor, public information officer of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond. It took United States District Judge Richard L. Williams only 27 minutes to deliver the sentence in open court. Williams also placed Rodis under supervised release for three years. The sentence ended a year-long court litigation that was shortened when the parish priest of St. Jude Church in Mineral, Virginia and Immaculate Conception Church of Bumpass, Virginia waived a jury trial and entered a plea agreement last October. Both churches are part of the Richmond Diocese. The prosecution of the case that was originally handled by Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy K. Sanner of Louisa County in Virginia, dismissed the case last August. But it was refiled before the US District Court in Eastern Virginia. It was prosecuted by Chuck Rosenberg, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Nancy Nelson, acting special agent-in-charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Richmond Division; Guy Cottrell, postal inspector-in-charge, Washington Division; and Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, superintendent, Virginia State Police. According to court records, from September 2002 to August 2006, Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from the two parishes – St. Jude Church and Immaculate Conception -- where he served as a Catholic priest. As part of his scheme, Rodis admitted establishing bank accounts, and opened a post office box, which only he could access. Church contributions from parishioners were deposited in his bank accounts and the proceeds were transferred to his personal bank account and funds were wired through Virginia Beach, Virginia to his family in the Philippines. Documents showed that the embezzled monies were used by family members in the Philippines to purchase real property, including beach-front property and grave sites. Assistant US Attorneys Brian L. Whisler and G. Wingate Grant prosecuted the case. Whisler earlier told this reporter that a one-count of mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, a special assessment and three years supervised release. In the one-count of money laundering, penalty carries a “maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment, fine the greater of $500,000, or twice the value of the laundered funds, a special assessment, and five years of supervised release. Court records show that Rodis was also leading a double life as a family man in a neighboring county in Virginia. He has a wife, Joyce Flores Sillador-Rodis, and they had two biological children, residing at 5904 Watson Lane, Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Catholic Virginian said Rodis was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Camillus in 1986 and came to the Diocese of Richmond in 1991. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Mark parish in Virginia Beach where he served a year. He then was named chaplain at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News and served there a year also. When he retired from active priestly ministry in May 2007, Rodis said he had had a stroke in October 2005 which had impaired his memory. He later was in an automobile accident. He had not been able to preach a homily since the stroke although he continued to celebrate Mass. The parish was then served by three deacons. He left Virginia on June 14, 2006 to return to the Philippines where he was to live at the home of his parents. He later returned to the United States to seek treatment for prostate cancer and was living in the Fredericksburg area when he was arrested on Jan 9, 2007 and detained at the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County. - Joseph G. Lariosa, GMANews.TV