Posted on 01/31/2008 9:05:20 AM PST by Alex Murphy
GREELEY — A Frederick priest accused of jogging naked near Frederick High School will not appear in court today as previously scheduled.
The Rev. Robert Whipkey is scheduled to stand trial on March 25 and 26 on a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure. A hearing on pre-trial motions, originally set for today, has been moved to March 4.
An off-duty Frederick Police officer who had just arrived home after work saw Whipkey walking nude on Fifth Street at about 4:30 a.m. June 22, police said. Whipkey was walking home after jogging at Frederick High School, according to police.
The priest told police he was jogging nude because wearing clothes makes him sweat profusely.
- A motions hearing was scheduled for January 31st, now delayed until March 4 (this article)
- A pretrial conference is scheduled for March 7
- The Weld County Judge is Michele Meyer
- The Prosecutor is Kent Leier
- The Defense lawyers are Matt Giacomini and Doug Tisdale
- The Denver Post coverage mentioned that, on the same day that Whipkey's "not guilty" plea was entered, a lawyer representing Whipkey (presumably one of the Tisdales) said the priest deeply regretted any discomfort and embarrassment that the situation had caused Catholics in the archdiocese, his family or anyone else.
- According to the CW2 coverage, Father Whipkey was slapped with a mandatory restraining order against the Frederick police officer who found him naked, and Whipkey was ordered to be fingerprinted.
- According to the earlier Times-Call coverage, the Archdiocese of Denver had yet to surrender Whipkey's personnel records to the Weld County Prosecutor at the time of the arraignment hearing.
Prior articles, in chronological order:
Naked truth: Priest jogs in birthday suit
Colo. priest charged for jogging naked
Priest faced prior nudity allegations
Jogging in (less than) brief
Jury will decide priest’s guilt [naked jogging priest case goes to trial]
Priest caught naked pleads not guilty to indecent exposure
Naked justice
This guy is probably harmless, but he’s obviously crazy as a loon. What the heck is his bishop doing?
My daughter lives in that diocese, and while Chaput is very good on some issues, he’s been very uneven on dealing with his priests. He may be intimidated by them (Denver was liberal central until he got there) or he may be one of those people who bends over backwards to think the best of people. In the latter case, I’d say he’s got to review his job description.
I’m going to say something I usually don’t. That is, I’m going to defend bishops for a second.
Why does a court need “the file” on a priest caught jogging nude?
Somebody in administration of a school told me that the school now has to run backround checks through the State on the employees. Guess which crimes aren’t included in the State “file”? Sexual offenses. Why? Because sharing that information would be against the law. Why? Because a judge has so ruled.
What?
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