A adjunct seminary professor who wrote about duties of the Catholic laity and clergy together with how to apply Christian social teachings in the workplace admitted to making a death threat against a local investigative reporter who received national acclaim for his 2018 and 2019 reports on the sexual abuse allegations in the Buffalo Diocese.
Paul E. Lubienecki, 63, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to stalking, a charge that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sentencing is set for Nov. 9.
Lubienecki, on six occasions between August 2019 and February 2020, left “harassing and threatening voicemails” for the reporter, using a cell phone that blocked his number, the office reported. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron J. Mango and Charles M. Kruly.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not identify the reporter, but WKBW said it was Charlie Specht, who produced award-winning investigations into the diocese’s handling of sex abuse allegations involving its priests.
Specht, who produced award-winning investigations into the diocese’s handling of sex abuse allegations involving its priests. In July, WKBW announced that Specht is leaving the Channel 7 station after five years to return to his journalistic roots and take on the same investigative role at The Buffalo News, the place where his career in journalism began.
During the heat of the church scandal, Specht admitted that he had to struggle with the news as a Catholic .
“Seventy years of secrets were about to spill out in March when the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo finally relented, sending our newsroom a list of 42 priests believed to have committed the ultimate betrayal — the sexual abuse of a child,” said Specht, in a 2018 profile revealing that his younger brother, Mike, had decided to become a Catholic priest.
“I needed to go on TV and tell our viewers what it meant. But first I needed to call my Mom,” said Specht. “She needed to hear it from me that Father Basil Ormsby, the priest who had witnessed my parents’ wedding and who played such a huge role in her family’s life, would forever be known as a pedophile.”
Hamburg man who taught at Christ the King Seminary has admitted harassing and intimidating a WKBW news reporter because he was angry over the victim’s reporting on the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Paul E. Lubienecki, 63, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to stalking, a charge that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 9. Lubienecki, on six occasions between August 2019 and February 2020, left “harassing and threatening voicemails” for the reporter, using a cell phone that blocked his number, the office reported.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron J. Mango and Charles M. Kruly.
You must log in to post a comment.