Originally Posted - July 17, 2006

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MINEOLA---An ex-priest from Pennsylvania has pleaded guilty to multiple counts as the result of a sex sting after he arrived in Mineola in March to meet a teenager for a sexual tryst at a hotel.

Thomas Bender, 72, of Macungie, PA., had allegedly been sharing indecent material over the Internet by AOL Instant Messenger and e-mail with a detective of the Nassau County Police Department who was posing as a 14-year-old boy.

As Bender arrived in New York to meet the "teen" in person to go to a hotel to have sex, police arrested him. Police said he was carrying beer, candy, condoms and gay pornographic DVD.

Bender has pleaded guilty to six counts of attempted disseminating indecent material to minors in the first degree, a class E felony; one count of attempted criminal sexual act in the third degree, a class A misdemeanor and seven counts of attempted endangering the welfare of a child, a class B misdemeanor. The charges represent the entirety of the May indictment of Bender by a Nassau County grand jury.

"Hard work by the Nassau County Police Department and our refusal to plea bargain will, we hope, land the defendant in prison for a very long time," said District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who at the time of the plea recommended maximum time for Bender. "The threat against our children is no longer confined to the playgrounds and the parks. It now includes the message boards and the chat rooms that exist within our homes. Law enforcement must remain vigilant and parents must remain informed if we are to keep our children safe today and in the future."

Records indicate that Bender, reportedly a former pastor at Most Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Bally Pa., was sentenced to seven years of probation following a 1988 conviction for molesting a teenager.

Bender was laicized, removed from the priesthood, last year. 7-17-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette