Orthodox Monks Plead Not Guilty to Sex Charges
Pastor Dale Morgan
Orthodox Monks Plead Not Guilty to Sex Charges*
Tuesday August 1, 2006 4:16 AM
By ELIZABETH WHITE
Associated Press Writer
JOHNSON CITY, Texas (AP) - Four Orthodox monks pleaded not guilty to
charges alleging a boy was sexually assaulted at a Texas monastery that
draws thousands of visitors every year, officials said Monday.
Authorities raided the Eastern Orthodox Christ of the Hills Monastery
last week in search of ``instruments of child abuse,'' Blanco County
District Attorney Sam Oatman said.
The four Orthodox monks, plus another serving a 10-year prison sentence
for indecency with a minor, were charged after a young man claimed he
had been assaulted at the monastery beginning in 1993, when he was a
teenager. Oatman said another accuser has come forward, and others could
follow.
Three of the monks appeared in court in shackles and orange prison
jumpsuits Monday and entered not guilty pleas to charges of sexual
assault of a child and organized criminal activity.
Monastery founder Samuel Greene, 61, who has health problems related to
a car accident, was not in court but has pleaded not guilty to those
charges as well as one count of sexual performance of a child, said his
attorney, Michael W. White.
``He's upset,'' White said of his client. ``You can just imagine what
it's like to be accused.''
The fifth indicted monk, Jonathan Hitt, 45, was convicted in 1999 of
indecency with a 14-year-old novice monk at the Eastern Orthodox
Christian monastery. Oatman said Hitt has not entered a plea on the new
charges.
The others, Walter Christley, who turns 45 Tuesday; Hugh Fallon, 40; and
William Hughes, 55, remained in custody and did not yet have lawyers.
Greene pleaded guilty six years ago to indecency with the same novice
monk from the Hitt case and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.
Oatman said charges also are possible with regard to the monastery's
main attraction: an image of the Virgin Mary that has been said to cry
tears of myrrh, seen as a sign of divine intervention. The icon has
brought in thousands of visitors and their donations to the monastery
between Austin and San Antonio.
Father Thomas Flower, of the Blessed Martin de Porres Urban Mission in
San Antonio, said he is taking care of the monastery for now. Flower
said he used to travel with a monk who was once affiliated with the
monastery.
``He would have told me if things like that were going on,'' Flower said.