Pubdate: Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL)
Website: http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/
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Address: P.O. Box 12710 Pensacola, FL 32574
Contact:  2002 The Pensacola News Journal
Fax: (850)435-8633
Author: Brett Norman

JAIL TIME LOOMS FOR PRIEST

Crandall Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charges

In keeping with the faith he defied, the Rev. Thomas Crandall confessed to 
crimes in U.S. District Court on Friday that left his unsuspecting Milton 
parishioners aghast.

Standing in a green jumpsuit before Chief Magistrate Roger Vinson, the 
Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and 
distribute more than 5 grams of methamphetamine and an indefinite amount of

Ecstasy, waiving his right to a jury trial.

Crandall, 47, who never again will be allowed to lead a parish, faces a 
minimum mandatory sentence of five to 40 years in federal prison and fines 
as high as $4 million. His incarceration will be followed by five years of 
supervised release.

He is scheduled for sentencing April 17.

Vinson could depart from the guidelines, however, if Crandall fully 
cooperates with spin-off investigations as expected.

The popular priest admitted buying and selling methamphetamine and the 
party drug Ecstasy from his rectory next to St. Rose of Lima Catholic 
Church in Milton and from his condominium in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

A handful of sympathetic supporters waved as Crandall was handcuffed and 
led out of the courtroom.

"We're still hoping there's a reason," said Suzanna Jones, 58, of Pace, who 
has attended the church since 1984 but was not at the hearing. "But it 
looks less and less that way as time passes. Realizing that this was going 
on and you just didn't know it is mind-boggling, because he was so 
well-liked and completely accepted."

Under Surveillance

The case against Crandall began Dec. 18 when Escambia County sheriff's 
investigators seized 42 Ecstasy tablets from a suspect who identified the 
priest as his source, according to DEA Special Agent Sonya Bryant's sworn 
statement.

Bryant's statement indicates that:

The unidentified suspect, who became an informant, said he had known 
Crandall since midsummer, when a friend who supplied the priest with 
Ecstasy introduced the two.

In October, Crandall developed his own source in New Orleans and began to 
supply the informant. Investigators surveilled numerous phone 
conversations, and the informant documented several buys.

In mid-December, Crandall told the informant that he wanted him to sell 
between 1,000 and 1,500 Ecstasy tablets for him. Crandall said he paid $6 
per tablet and wanted them sold for $8.

After almost a month of surveillance, Crandall was stopped by investigators 
Jan. 12 as he was driving home to Milton from a drug buy in New Orleans.

About 900 tablets believed to be Ecstasy and about 10 grams of meth were 
seized from his vehicle and wallet. DEA technicians determined, however, 
that Crandall was "ripped off," said assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Preisser.

The Ecstasy was fake. During a recorded conversation with his informant, 
Crandall said his supplier had taken $6,000 he fronted him and had stolen 
$1,600 from his bank accounts.

On a separate and earlier occasion, the informant told investigators, 
Crandall paid $500 for drugs he never received.

After the traffic stop, investigators searched Crandall's residence and 
found 15 grams of meth and four Ecstasy tablets.

Crandall has been in Escambia County Jail ever since.

'A Man Of The Cloth'

When he was assigned to the Milton parish in 1998, Father Thom became a 
vital force in the church and the community. He was an active organizer in 
the annual St. Rose of Lima International Festival of games, arts and 
crafts, music and food.

Born and raised in Jersey City, N.J., Crandall graduated from Loyola 
University in New Orleans and later studied at St. Mary's Seminary in 
Baltimore and the University of Notre Dame. He was a pastor at St. Joseph's 
Church in Port St. Joe for 13 years before transferring to Milton three 
years ago.

Parishioners have commended him for reinvigorating the youth ministry.

Ralph Kahl Jr. said he was deeply hurt by the revelations of his pastor and 
worried about any untoward influence he might have had on the children.

"He was very good with young children, and I hope that he hasn't taught 
them the wrong things," said Kahl, 83. Kahl is disturbed by the priest's 
hypocrisy at the pulpit as well.

"I can't understand how anybody can tell you what to do and then do those 
things," he said. "You wouldn't think that a man of the cloth ... you just 
would never even think it. He talked a lot about his home and his bringing 
up, and it was all beautiful."

In September 2000, after he was robbed in the rectory, Crandall urged his 
congregation to pray for the man who brandished a gun and left him tied up 
with his own shoelaces. "It's a shame something like this has to happen to 
shake people up and make them realize what's important in life," he said at 
Sunday Mass the next day. "It could be easy to say this is just another 
indication of how people act and to give up on people altogether. But we 
can't do that."

Four suspects pleaded no contest to involvement in the robbery.

Diocese Surprised

But the popular priest also displayed characteristics that clashed with the 
typical image of a man of the cloth.

He was the priest with vanity plates - FRTHOM - on his Jeep Cherokee. He 
owned a condo in New Orleans and was so zealous a Notre Dame football fan, 
he bleached his hair blond to match the team's gold helmets and the 
school's golden dome on its administration building.

He was recognized in an article published on Ambushmag.com, a gay- and 
lesbian-oriented Web site. In August 1996, Crandall attended an anniversary 
party for Rip and Marsha Naquin-Delain, the article reported. The famous 
New Orleans couple - two men, one cross-dressing - were celebrating 22 
years of domestic partnership.

The story is still posted on the Web site.

The party raised $8,132 for the a New Orleans AIDS charity, the article 
reported. Diocesan spokesman Monsignor Michael Reed said he was unaware of 
any involvement Crandall may have had in New Orleans' gay community. He 
also was unaware of the second home.

The diocese was blindsided by the drug charges.

"In the 20 years he's been ordained, there has never been anything said 
about him that would lead anybody to suspect anything," Reed said.

Seminary students undergo rigorous spiritual exploration and intensive 
annual reviews by supervisors to determine if they have the moral and 
psychological merit to serve as priests, Reed said.

At ordination, they pledge to maintain chastity, to live within their means 
and to obey their bishop. For the first several years of a priest's career, 
he is supervised by a senior pastor.

But Reed said the rigorous process of seminary is assumed generally to weed 
out bad seeds. Once a man is ordained a priest, the diocese makes an 
enduring commitment to him and trusts that he conducts his life as a pastor 
should.

If the bishop believes a priest is behaving contrary to his promises, he 
will intervene, Reed said.

The diocese hired Roy Kinsey as Crandall's lawyer but expects him to 
reimburse the diocese for any costs incurred in his defense.

"We still have an interest to protect the good things that (the Catholic 
Church does)," Reed said. "We provide him the defense he deserves and try 
to deflect unnecessary attention that would turn a fair trial into a 
circus." Crandall no longer has the blessing of the diocese to conduct 
Mass, to hear confessions or otherwise perform the functions of a priest.

However, "once you're ordained, you're ordained. It cannot be taken away," 
Reed said.

As to what becomes of Crandall once he's released, Reed said:

"People can always be forgiven. We certainly would offer him forgiveness if 
he is genuinely remorseful for what he's done. But reinstatement (as an 
active priest) is not a possibility."

The Rev. Thomas Collins will serve as a temporary administrator of 
Crandall's Milton parish as the diocese searches for a permanent 
replacement. Collins inherits a shaken congregation. Said Jones: "We are 
somewhere between the initial shock, and now it's shifting a little toward 
anger."

Diocese Reponse

Concerning the drug case of the Rev. Thomas Crandall, the Pensacola- 
Tallahassee Diocese responds:

The Catholic community of Northwest Florida continues to grieve and 
acknowledge that the actions of Father Crandall have brought great pain and 
disappointment to our community of faith. We affirm the work of law 
enforcement personnel and the judicial system in addressing the problem of 
illegal drugs, which continue to tear away and destroy the fabric of human 
life and particularly devastate the lives of loved ones. The diocese 
continues to call all Catholics and men and women of good will to pray for 
all those affected by this terrible calamity.
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