Priest to serve 30 days for fondling teen

[Ian David]

May 1, 2007

By Lisa Rathke Associated Press

ST. ALBANS — A Roman Catholic priest will serve 30 days in jail after pleading guilty Monday to fondling a teenager.

The Rev. Stephen Nichols changed his plea in a deal in which he was charged with committing a prohibited act, a misdemeanor.

Nichols, who is on a leave of absence from his duties at St. Elizabeth's Church in Lyndonville and Queen of Peace Church in Danville, originally was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct.

On Monday Nichols, who attended court in a dark jacket and said he preferred to be addressed as Stephen Nichols rather than Father Nichols, admitted that he touched an 18-year-old male's genitals without his consent and made unwanted sexual advances toward him at Nichols' Richford home after the two had been drinking in Quebec.

Judge Ben Joseph, who last week denied a no contest plea deal that included no jail time, said he accepted the latest agreement because "it provides accountability."

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The victim said the last two years of his life have been tainted by stress, with letters to the editor written against him in the local newspaper and investigators talking to friends and family about him.

More:
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS02/705010393/1003/NEWS02

[Little Wing]

1. He'll no doubt be on the receiving end of some fondling

I'm not condoning it.

[Uncle Roy]

2. Is there a difference between "fondling" and "groping"? What if you are the governor of California?

If you are an "18-year-old male" you can enlist in the US Marine Corps and go to Baghdad and fondle the business end of an AK47, whichever end that may be, and can shoot it off, and kill a bunch of people, and be a hero. If you are an "18-year-old male" and some priest fondles your business end, whichever end that may be, then you are a poor pathetic defenseless "victim", and the world goes nuts.

We seem to react oddly in cases where "male's genitals" are involved. "Phallophobia" isn't in the dictionary yet, but maybe it should be...