National Roundup

South Dakota
Former priest faces child pornography charges

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A former priest convicted of stealing $260,000 in cash donations from the Diocese of Rapid City is now accused of having sexual contact with a minor and possessing child pornography.

The Rapid City Journal reports Marcin Garbacz, 42, was indicted in February but the case was only unsealed on Friday.

Garbacz is charged with “engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place” between June 21 and July 7, 2011, by traveling to another country and having sexual conduct with a boy under the age of 18.

The Diocese of Rapid City said in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation.

Garbacz is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Monday after a jury convicted him in March of 65 financial crimes. He faces to up to 20 years in prison on each of the 59 wire fraud and money laundering counts, up to 10 years for transporting stolen money and up to three years for each of the five tax crime charges.

The new charges stem from an FBI agent coming across child pornography on one of Garbacz’s thumb drives during the financial crimes investigation, according to court records.

Prosecutors said Garbacz spent the stolen money on expensive artwork and religious objects, a diamond ring, a grand piano, a Cadillac and other items.

Garbacz served as a chaplain and teacher for the Rapid City Catholic Schools System during that time, a prosecutor said during his trial.

Florida
Couple avoids prison time in child abuse case

BARTOW, Fla. (AP) — A Florida couple won’t serve any prison time in a child abuse case in which a malnourished, injured teenage girl was discovered hiding in woods.

A circuit judge declined a request Friday from prosecutors to sentence 49-year-old Kris Peters to a prison term. Instead, Peters was handed 15 years’ probation after pleading guilty to a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm.

The Lakeland Ledger reports that his wife, 37-year-old Melissa Peters, previously pleaded no contest to the same charge and also was sentenced to probation.

The two were charged after a 17-year-old girl in their care was found hiding in the woods in November 2016 by a passerby. Authorities say she was underweight and losing her hair and had infected wounds on her feet and a stab wound in her shoulder, which also had been fractured.

Doctors said she weighed 86 pounds, or about 20 pounds less than her ideal weight. The girl told investigators she hadn’t been allowed to bathe in eight months, could eat only when she stole food and endured repeated beatings on her feet with a metal pipe.

The couple claimed after their arrest that the girl’s wounds were self-inflicted, and the injuries to her feet were caused by her picking at her skin, according to investigators. They also told authorities the girl had mental health issues and repeatedly hit herself.

Alaska
Man sentenced for 2016 killing of 16-year-old boy

PALMER, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man was sentenced to 65 years in prison with 20 years suspended as one of four defendants in the 2016 killing of a 16-year-old boy.

Palmer Superior Court Judge Gregory Heath on Friday sentenced Austin Barrett, 23, after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Barrett was also given 10 years of probation.

Barrett was the only one out of the four defendants to receive a plea deal. Heath had dismissed a murder indictment against Barrett after determining that officers violated his right to remain silent during an interview.

The victim, David Grunwald, was beaten in a trailer behind a home in Palmer, Alaska, in November 2016 before being driven to a river, where he was shot and killed, prosecutors said. His body was not found for 19 days.

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that showed the four defendants partying together after the murder. Barrett had known his victim for about 90 minutes before the killing, prosecutors said.

Juries have already convicted Erick Almandinger, Dominic Johnson and Bradley Renfro of first-degree murder. They are currently awaiting sentencing.

“David had entered the devil’s lair and had no idea what was in store for him,” his mother, Edie Grunwald, said during a lengthy victim’s statement she read to the court Friday. “Ben and I think and we weep about our son getting pistol-whipped and driven to his death.”

Barrett apologized to the Grunwalds and all of their family and friends at the sentencing hearing on Friday.

“I regret what has happened and I realize it was completely wrong,” he said. “I apologize for my actions Alaska and I’m sorry Mr. and Mrs. Grunwald.”

Mississippi
Sex abuse trial delayed for former friar

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — The trial for a former Catholic Church friar accused of sex abuse at a Mississippi school has been postponed.

Paul West, a former member of the Franciscan religious order, was supposed to face trial on Tuesday for allegations that he sexually molested students in the 1990s at Greenwood’s St. Francis of Assisi School.

No new trial date was immediately set, Kelly Roberts, senior deputy clerk of the Leflore County Circuit Court, told The Greenwood Commonwealth.

West’s court-appointed lawyer, Wallie Stuckey, sought the continuance that was granted. Stuckey said he filed the request because he hadn’t received all the information he’s legally due from the state about the witnesses and evidence that will be presented to the jury.

West was indicted by a Leflore County grand jury in August on two counts of sexual battery and two counts of gratification of lust. The Mississippi attorney general’s office is prosecuting the case.

The former Franciscan is accused of sexually abusing two cousins when they were students at the Catholic elementary school where West worked as a teacher and later principal. The abuse allegedly occurred both on school grounds and on out-of-state school trips.

If convicted, West could spend the rest of his life behind bars. He has pleaded not guilty.

West also is facing a charge in Wisconsin of second-degree sexual assault of a child.