A notorious fake priest who left a trail of doubt and disbelief among the worshipers he is accused of defrauding from coast to coast will soon stand trial in Riverside County, sheriff’s officials said .
For months, Malin Rostas, aka “Father Martin,” donned black clothing and showed up at Catholic churches in the United States and Canada pretending to be “a visiting priest from Chicago,” according to investigators.
But when his overconfident hosts left him alone in the rectory – a priest’s personal quarters next to the church – investigators say Rostas rummaged through their valuables and quickly fled with their money.
In March, Father Peter Raydar of the aptly named American Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in Queens, New York, was burned for $900.
“It’s a vulture, it’s a vulture,” Raydar told a local TV station. “It’s very sad that someone would come to a place of worship and rape everyone.”
But, Raydar admitted, the alleged fake priest had done his homework. He had learned the names of the people in the church, used ecclesiastical vocabulary and knew where to find the loot, he said.
Rostas is accused of pulling a similar stunt at a Houston church, earning $500. And authorities suspect him of being responsible for stealing more than $1,700 from an Oregon church.
There is, of course, nothing new about evil con artists posing as men of the cloth.
In October, the Diocese of Stockton issued a warning about two men who impersonated real priests in Toluca, Mexico, and charged exorbitant fees to immigrant parishioners to perform impromptu rituals: baptisms, confirmations, first communions .
The “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” as a diocese spokeswoman described the men to the National Catholic Register, have also begun demanding copies of parishioners’ birth certificates, raising fears of identity theft and possible drug trafficking. ‘Human being.
In Miami, church officials recently warned worshipers about fake priests performing fake rituals in exchange for iTunes gift cards stuffed with cash. A parishioner was cheated out of $1,500.
The situation became so serious that the local archbishop had to go on television and remind his faithful that, although it is common for priests to pass around the collection plate to ask for money during mass, ” no Catholic clergyman will ask a parishioner for a gift card. »
But perhaps the most inspired recent scam occurred in Sacramento, when the owners of a small taqueria chain that was under federal investigation for labor violations hired a fake father to hear employee confessions.
“I found the conversation strange and different from normal confessions,” one of the waiters later told investigators.
Instead of giving her space to search her soul and reflect on her sins, the fake priest continued to steer the conversation toward her work performance: asking her if she had ever been late, stolen from a restaurant, or done something wrong. something that harmed his employer.
For “Father Martin,” the reckoning came Thursday morning in Moreno Valley in the form of Riverside County sheriff’s deputies who said they noticed his car matched the description of a vehicle used in a string of burglaries.
Driving, they found Rostas, 45, of New York. After conducting a routine arrest warrant check, they quickly realized they were face to face with what so many people were looking for: the alleged pilfering father.
Rostas was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on an outstanding felony warrant issued by Pennsylvania. Additional charges are expected to be filed soon, according to the sheriff’s department.
California Daily Newspapers
