My Case Is Different, Convicted Rev. Says
By Brian Harmon Daily News Staff Writer
Originally published in the New York Daily News, March 20, 2002
A former Long Island priest convicted of sodomizing a teenage boy said yesterday he understands the public's outrage over the growing number of sex abuse cases involving priests.
But Michael Hands also insisted that it is unfair for the public to compare his case with the others.
"There's a lot of public outrage—and rightfully so—but what is disappointing is that there seems to be a lumping together of all allegations against priests involving sexual misconduct," Hands said outside Suffolk County court yesterday, where he appeared earlier on a related sexual abuse charge.
"Each case is distinctly different. … There's a big difference in my case," Hands told the Daily News, but he declined to be more specific.
But a sex crimes cop who investigated Hands saw no difference at all.
Nassau County Police Sgt. Richard Zito said Hands developed a relationship with his victim's family and gained their trust so he could be with the boy.
"That kind of behavior is typical of a pedophile," he said. "They groom the family in order to get access to the boy."
Two weeks ago, Hands, 35, pleaded guilty in Nassau County to five counts of sodomy and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Sex Abuse at Age 13
Police said the victim—now 15—was 13 when the priest began having sex with him in August 1999.
Hands now faces additional sex abuse charges in Suffolk because he allegedly had sex with the same boy in that county.
He is expected to be sentenced to six months behind bars on the Nassau charges April 23. He has resigned from the ministry.
A hearing in the Suffolk case, to determine whether statements Hands made to police can be used in court, was postponed until Monday in Judge Stephen Braslow's courtroom.
James Cudden, the assistant district attorney in the case, did not comment. Hands' attorney, Peter Rubin, also did not comment.
Cops said Hands' sex romps with the boy started during the priest's stint as an associate pastor at St. Philip Neri Church in Northport, Suffolk County. Court documents and police reports indicate Hands and the boy had sex at the boy's home, in the church rectory and most recently at St. Raphael Church's rectory in East Meadow, Nassau County.
Hands, who said he was suspended by the Diocese of Rockville Centre when the charges surfaced, said he misses being a priest.
"Yes, there are regrets about the way things have happened," he said. "Certainly, I would have much more to say at an appropriate time, when my lawyer's advice is not to not talk to the media."
