Priest in case of molested teens heading to Missouri

Matt Pordum and Christina Littlefield

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Victims advocate groups were outraged this morning that a Henderson priest who pleaded guilty to molesting five teenage parishioners has been "honorably discharged" from normal probation and will be sent to a inpatient treatment facility in Missouri run by the Catholic Church.

District Judge Donald Mosley signed the order last week after the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation said it had been unable to find a state that would agree to supervise the Rev. Mark Roberts.

As part of Roberts' sentence, Mosley ordered that he be sent to an inpatient facility for sex offenders. There is no such facility in Nevada.

"I think it's an insensitive and irresponsible decision," said David Clohessy, executive director of the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP. "It's like letting a fox watch the chicken coop, letting Catholic officials supervise a serial offender who is a Catholic priest."

The Recon treatment center is the same facility local officials had originally tried to sent Roberts to, but the Missouri Department of Parole and Probation refused to oversee Roberts' three-year term on formal probation, Mosley said. New Mexico officials also denied a request to oversee Roberts' probation.

Mosley said he will personally monitor Roberts' treatment in the Recon facility, located in the rural town of Dittmer, about 25 minutes outside St. Louis.

"He (Roberts) knows I can extradite him in a minute," Mosley said. "I think this (informal probation) is more stringent because if he was under intrastate compact, he would be supervised by an officer that probably has 120 cases. This will be more stringent because I'm his supervisor."

Mosley said he is at liberty to call the director of the Recon facility at any time to check on Roberts' status. He said all of the court-ordered conditions Roberts was bound by under probation are still in place under his informal probation.

Roberts will not be allowed to minister, he will attend counseling and he will be able to go to town only with supervision, court records show. No one from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas was able to confirm whether Roberts has yet been defrocked from the priesthood, which was also part of his guilty plea agreement.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Luzaich protested releasing Roberts from probation at a July 27 hearing, according to court minutes. Luzaich said she was afraid no one would know where the defendant was.

Roberts' attorney, George Foley Sr., said at the same hearing that Henderson Police have always been aware of Roberts' whereabouts and did not feel he was a threat to walk away.

Roberts was a priest at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Henderson. His guilty plea related to fondling, verbally abusing and beating five boys between Jan. 1, 2001, and Feb. 1, 2002.

A civil suit on behalf of the victims against Roberts and the Las Vegas Diocese remains pending.