Georgia priest sentenced for sexually abusing two brothers

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A Roman Catholic priest -- sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing two brothers -- was ordained in Georgia despite indications he was not a suitable candidate, prosecutors allege.

A pre-sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors painted the Rev. Wayland Brown as a serial molester who abused several boys throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One, who grew up in Georgia and now lives in Oklahoma, testified at the sentencing Thursday that Brown abused him on a trip to Disney World in 1978.

Prosecutors said church authorities had doubts about Brown.

"There is a paper trail that demonstrates the Diocese of Savannah knew this was not a suitable candidate for the priesthood and they still chose to ordain him," said Montgomery County Assistant State's Attorney Peter Feeney.

Barbara King, spokeswoman for the diocese, had no comment on the sentencing or memorandum.

Brown pleaded guilty in Montgomery Circuit Court in November to battery and abuse of the two brothers, who were 12 and 13 years old when the abuse began in 1974 at their Gaithersburg home.

One of the brothers told Judge Ann S. Harrington of the shame and bitter memories he has lived with since the abuse, which kept him from forming close relationships and drove him to consider suicide.

"Father Brown robbed me of my future and shackled me with chains of guilt," the man, now 42, said in a wavering voice. "Father Brown made me hate being me."

Brown was a student at a Washington seminary and became close with the Gaithersburg boys while counseling their mother on marital problems. He would sometimes spend the night at the family's Gaithersburg home and took the boys on hiking trips, to movies and concerts.

He apologized to the brothers and the Oklahoma man, all three of whom were in court.

"There is no excuse for what I did, there cannot be," Brown said. "I hated myself for what I did."

Excerpts from Brown's personnel file show numerous instances where diocesan officials expressed concern about his dealings with young boys. The memorandum also alleges the diocese was aware of concerns that Brown may have abused boys as early as 1969. He was ordained in 1977 over the objections of some diocesan staff and was later assigned to a church with an affiliated school.

Personnel records cited by prosecutors show the diocese's vocations director, who handled personnel issues, recommended to then-Bishop Raymond Lessard in June 1977 that Brown not be ordained.

The diocese "would be better off to have no priest rather than an unholy priest," Rev. Robert Mattingly wrote to Lessard.