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Priest accused of luring teens seeks probation
By ELIZABETH BENTON
Register Staff
Published on 10/07/2004
ANSONIA — A local priest who was accused in April of trying to lure two teenage
girls into his vehicle has applied for a lenient form of probation that is reserved
for first-time offenders, court officials said.
Miroslaw Jatsiv, 35, of Greenfield Drive, a former priest at SS. Peter and Paul Church,
is charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and refusal to be fingerprinted after he
allegedly tried to lure two teenage girls into his van, police said.
Jatsiv applied for the accelerated rehabilitation program at Superior Court in Derby Tuesday.
A judge will decide whether to accept his application following a hearing Oct. 25, said
Assistant State’s Attorney Kimberly Perelli, who is assigned to the case.
"It’s a program anybody can apply for if they don’t have a criminal record," she said. If
participants comply with the terms of their probation, at the completion of the program their
criminal record is purged.
The two 14-year-old girls were walking near Ford and Benz streets in the city’s Hilltop
neighborhood at about 5:40 p.m. April 19, when Jatsiv allegedly approached them in a van and
ordered them inside, police said.
When the girls refused, Jatsiv allegedly got out of the vehicle and began walking after the
girls, police said. One of the girls called her father on a cell phone; the father met the
girls in his car, located Jatsiv’s green van and reported its location, police said.
Police located Jatsiv’s van several minutes later on Velms Drive.
Police have not determined Jatsiv’s alleged motives for trying to lure the girls into the
van and said there was no indication he wanted to harm them, police said.
At the time of the incident, Jatsiv was on leave of absence from SS. Peter and Paul Ukranian
Catholic Church, 105 Clifton Ave.
Neither Jatsiv nor his attorney, Kevin Condon, was available for comment.
The Rev. Ihor Midzak of the Ukranian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford said Jatsiv was placed on
leave two years ago, after refusing to accept a new assignment in Staten Island. Midzak said
Jatsiv’s arrest would "weigh very heavily in making any decision to accept him back."
Elizabeth Benton can be reached at
ebenton@nhregister.com or 734-2813.
© New Haven Register 2004
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