Fil-Am priest indicted on fraud charges

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) – A retired Roman Catholic priest charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from two rural churches was indicted on federal fraud charges, federal prosecutors said.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 51, who was born in the Philippines, was indicted Tuesday on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a news release.

According to the indictment, Rodis embezzled money from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Church in Mineral from 2002 until last year. Rodis wired at least $515,231 of misappropriated parishioner contributions to the Philippines, the release said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond has said Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from the churches, where he was pastor from 1993 until his retirement last May.

Rodis is being held at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County on 13 state felony embezzlement charges stemming from the incident. In May, Rodis’ bond was revoked after he violated terms of his bond.

“If the federal authorities had indicted Father Rodney for the same offenses for which he was standing trial in the state court, then arguably double jeopardy principles would prevent him from being tried in both courts for the same offense,” said Rodis’ lawyer, John R. Maus.

Maus would not comment further on the charges because he had not yet seen the indictment.