Priest may have more victims, prosecutors say

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Posted 8:19PM on Monday, July 15, 2002

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND - Montgomery County authorities said Monday that a Georgia priest who allegedly sexually abused a Gaithersburg boy in the 1970s while at a Washington seminary may have had other victims in Maryland and Georgia. Another man has told county investigators that Rev. Wayland Y. Brown molested him while Brown was a deacon at a Prince George's County church more than 25 years ago, prosecutors said at Brown's bail review. Assistant State's Attorney Peter Feeney said Brown may have also abused at least two other boys while he studied at the Washington Theological College in the District of Columbia in the early 1970s. Feeney said the victim from Prince George's was an altar boy at St. Mary's Church in Landover Hills when Brown allegedly molested him in on trips the two took together to Georgia. Brown also allegedly told the then 12-year-old that he had sexual contact with other boys. ``He appears to be a serial offender,'' Feeney said at the hearing. Brown, 58, faces child abuse and related charges for allegedly molesting a Gaithersburg boy between 1973 and 1975. Prosecutors say the incidents took place in the boy's home, a church rectory and the Georgia home of Brown's parents. He could be sentenced to 35 years in prison if convicted. The priest does not face charges related to any other alleged victims. Brown's initial bail of $750,000 was reaffirmed by Montgomery District Court Judge Mary Beth McCormick. The priest was extradited to Maryland last week after police arrested him at his Savannah, Ga. home on June 26. Appearing from the county detention center through a television feed, Brown said little during the 15-minute hearing. He asked once if he could speak, but was advised not to by Judge McCormick and his public defender. Brown's attorney, Michael C. Garrett of Augusta, Ga., was not present at the hearing and did not return phone calls seeking comment. Brown studied at the Theological College between 1972 and 1976 but did not graduate. He was later ordained in the Diocese of Savannah in July 1977 and served at several parishes in the Savannah area. He was removed from active ministry in 1988, for what the diocese said was ``personality issues.'' While a seminary student, Brown was assigned on a temporary basis to St. Rose of Lima church in Gaithersburg where he became close friends with a 12-year-old boy's mother, according to charging documents. Brown first molested the boy when he slept over at the boy's home and continued to abuse the boy on trips and in his seminary dorm. The victim, now 41, said the abuse lasted for two years. Earlier this year, the victim confronted Brown over the phone and in person while he was wearing a police wiretap. Brown apologized but said he could not remember any of the incidents, blaming his memory lapse on alcoholism and a nervous breakdown he suffered in the mid-1980s. Feeney said police interviewed the Prince George's County man after Brown was arrested. The man told police the abuse took place on trips from Maryland to the home of Brown's parents in Georgia. Prosecutors also want to question two other Maryland men who they believe may have been abused by Brown, Feeney said. Brown's last posting was at St. James Church in Savannah, where he served as associate pastor until 1988. Feeney said officials at the parish's Catholic school had a policy that he could not enter the school unless accompanied by a nun. Feeney said the policy was set after Brown allegedly made lewd comments to boys on the school's playground. A spokeswoman from the Diocese of Savannah could not confirm if the policy existed and the school officials couldn't be reached Monday.