Former Toledo Police Detective Bill Gray shows the reporthe filed against the Rev. Robert Thomas in 1984 for
molesting a teen in the Southwyck Shopping Center.
After frisking the man and slapping handcuffs on him, the veteran policeman realized he had crossed a sacred line: he was arresting a priest.
The year was 1984, and the man escorted to jail in white jeans and a muscle shirt had just celebrated Mass that morning as pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Toledo.
But the career of the Rev. Robert Thomas was far from over.
In the following years, his arrest reports disappeared, his record was expunged, and he was sent by the diocese to four more parishes, including three in Arizona."
Originally reported in the Toledo Blade; the story has disappeared.
It was called "Shame, Sin and Secrets" Part 1 of 3 parts, written by Michael D. Sallah and David Yonke and published in the Toledo Blade on December 1, 2002
Part 2 was called "Believers Betrayed" and Part 3 was called "Church Struggles to Quell Crisis"
Full Story-All 3 Parts
