ALLEGAN, MI (WTVB) – The unlawful imprisonment case of a priest who who was the pastor of of a number of parishes in southwest Michigan has been bound over to Allegan County Circuit Court.
On line court records show Father Brian Stanley of Coloma waived his preliminary exam which was scheduled to take place Tuesday in District Court.
The case against the 57-year-old Stanley was filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on August 21, 2019.
He was charged after the Michigan Attorney General’s office seized documents from Catholic Diocese offices around the state last fall.
According to documents, a teen was wrapped up in plastic wrap and masking tape with his eyes and mouth covered and left in a janitor’s closet for an hour at St. Margaret Church in Otsego in September 2013. The teen’s parents had taken him to Stanley for counseling due to poor grades and drug use.
Nessel says documents from the Kalamazoo Diocese showed a history of such bindings dating back decades by Stanley, and she classified it as a sexual crime. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, and would have to register as a sex offender.
Stanley was placed on administrative leave from active ministry in January 2017 and is prohibited from public ministry. He is also the former pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Coldwater and Our Lady of Fatima in Union City.
(reporting from Jim Measel)
