SAGINAW, MI — Less than two years after being sent to prison for sexually assaulting a teen, a prominent Roman Catholic priest is about to be paroled.
A Michigan Department of Corrections parole board on Dec. 29 decided to parole Robert J. “Father Bob” DeLand Jr., said MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz. DeLand, now 73, is currently incarcerated at the Marquette Branch Prison in the Upper Peninsula.
DeLand will be released around April 23, Gautz said. Conditions and restrictions DeLand will have while on parole are still being determined. DeLand’s parole term is expected to last two years, Gautz said.
DeLand must register as a sex offender until Oct. 13, 2045, at which time he will be 98.
Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson in April 2019 sentenced DeLand to two to 15 years in prison.
Police began investigating DeLand in November 2017 after receiving a complaint that the priest had inappropriate contact with a minor. At the time, DeLand was pastor at St. Agnes Parish in Tittabawassee Township, volunteered as a greeter at Freeland High School, and was so popular a local road was named after him.
Police arrested DeLand in February 2018 and he subsequently faced seven charges related to the alleged sexual assaults of two teens and one young man.
DeLand in September 2018 pleaded no contest to all charges. He later withdrew his pleas and went to trial on a few of the counts in March 2019 and was found not guilty by a jury. Some of those charges stemmed from allegations that DeLand had attempted to sexually assault a teen in the coatroom of St. Agnes Church during a May 2017 memorial service for classmate who had died by suicide.
The day after the acquittal, and with two more trials looming, DeLand pleaded no contest to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, gross indecency between two males, and manufacturing or distributing an imitation controlled substance.
The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw has suspended DeLand from his priestly duties.
During DeLand’s sentencing, Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover read a statement penned by the victim in the charges DeLand had pleaded to.
“I would like to make it known what that man has done to me will define my life forever,” Hoover read.
While dealing with the loss of a friend by suicide, “This man of God told me I wasn’t OK, no matter how much I told him I was strong,” Hoover read.
The teen testified in court that DeLand gave him cigarette packs and $100 to acquire ecstasy.
The teen was 17 at the time he visited DeLand’s Saginaw Township condominium in February 2018, equipped with a recording device provided by police. That’s when DeLand massaged the teen’s feet, chest and back, and put his hand on the teen’s buttocks for a minute or two, the teen testified.
DeLand gave a brief statement at his sentencing, saying, “I’m very sorry the community has gone through all of this.”
DeLand also was accused by a man who was age 21 at the time of getting him intoxicated at DeLand’s condo and sexually assaulting him. That man was to testify in a trial that was canceled by DeLand’s pleas.
At least two lawsuits have been filed against DeLand. One was filed by a diocese-employed maintenance worker and relative of the teen whom DeLand allegedly tried to assault in the church coatroom. The other was filed by attorney Todd J. Weglarz and names the Saginaw diocese and now-deceased Bishop Joseph Cistone as codefendants.
Weglarz filed his suit on behalf of a juvenile and an adult representative, alleging DeLand had inappropriately touched the juvenile by “groping and fondling his crotch and buttocks, feet and toes.” The boy fled the condo and police arrested DeLand the same night.
The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, headquartered at 5800 Weiss St., covers 11 counties in eastern mid-Michigan: Arenac, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Huron, Isabella, Midland, Saginaw, Sanilac, and Tuscola.
In the aftermath of DeLand’s arrest, the diocese named 22 clergy as having been credibly accused of sexual misconduct going back decades. Many of those are now deceased.
Read more:
Judge dismisses ex-detective’s lawsuit alleging he was fired for investigating Catholic priest
Employee sues Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, claiming retaliation for reporting sex-abuse complaint
Suspended Catholic priest gets two years for sexual assault of teen
Catholic priest pleads no contest to sex assault charge, avoids second trial
Jury acquits Catholic priest Robert DeLand of sexually assaulting 2 teens
Teens testify Catholic priest sexually assaulted them
Lawsuit against Father Bob, Saginaw Diocese moved to state court
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