JAIL TIME LOOMS FOR PRIEST

Crandall Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charges

In keeping with the faith he defied, the Rev. Thomas Crandall confessed to
crimes in U.S. District Court on Friday that left his unsuspecting Milton
parishioners aghast.

Standing in a green jumpsuit before Chief Magistrate Roger Vinson, the
Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and
distribute more than 5 grams of methamphetamine and an indefinite amount of

Ecstasy, waiving his right to a jury trial.

Crandall, 47, who never again will be allowed to lead a parish, faces a
minimum mandatory sentence of five to 40 years in federal prison and fines
as high as $4 million. His incarceration will be followed by five years of
supervised release.

He is scheduled for sentencing April 17.

Vinson could depart from the guidelines, however, if Crandall fully
cooperates with spin-off investigations as expected.

The popular priest admitted buying and selling methamphetamine and the
party drug Ecstasy from his rectory next to St. Rose of Lima Catholic
Church in Milton and from his condominium in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

A handful of sympathetic supporters waved as Crandall was handcuffed and
led out of the courtroom.

"We're still hoping there's a reason," said Suzanna Jones, 58, of Pace, who
has attended the church since 1984 but was not at the hearing. "But it
looks less and less that way as time passes. Realizing that this was going
on and you just didn't know it is mind-boggling, because he was so
well-liked and completely accepted."

Under Surveillance

The case against Crandall began Dec. 18 when Escambia County sheriff's
investigators seized 42 Ecstasy tablets from a suspect who identified the
priest as his source, according to DEA Special Agent Sonya Bryant's sworn
statement.

Bryant's statement indicates that:

The unidentified suspect, who became an informant, said he had known
Crandall since midsummer, when a friend who supplied the priest with
Ecstasy introduced the two.

In October, Crandall developed his own source in New Orleans and began to
supply the informant. Investigators surveilled numerous phone
conversations, and the informant documented several buys.

In mid-December, Crandall told the informant that he wanted him to sell
between 1,000 and 1,500 Ecstasy tablets for him. Crandall said he paid $6
per tablet and wanted them sold for $8.

After almost a month of surveillance, Crandall was stopped by investigators
Jan. 12 as he was driving home to Milton from a drug buy in New Orleans.

About 900 tablets believed to be Ecstasy and about 10 grams of meth were
seized from his vehicle and wallet. DEA technicians determined, however,
that Crandall was "ripped off," said assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Preisser.

The Ecstasy was fake. During a recorded conversation with his informant,
Crandall said his supplier had taken $6,000 he fronted him and had stolen
$1,600 from his bank accounts.

On a separate and earlier occasion, the informant told investigators,
Crandall paid $500 for drugs he never received.

After the traffic stop, investigators searched Crandall's residence and
found 15 grams of meth and four Ecstasy tablets.

Crandall has been in Escambia County Jail ever since.

'A Man Of The Cloth'

When he was assigned to the Milton parish in 1998, Father Thom became a
vital force in the church and the community. He was an active organizer in
the annual St. Rose of Lima International Festival of games, arts and
crafts, music and food.

Born and raised in Jersey City, N.J., Crandall graduated from Loyola
University in New Orleans and later studied at St. Mary's Seminary in
Baltimore and the University of Notre Dame. He was a pastor at St. Joseph's
Church in Port St. Joe for 13 years before transferring to Milton three
years ago.

Parishioners have commended him for reinvigorating the youth ministry.

Ralph Kahl Jr. said he was deeply hurt by the revelations of his pastor and
worried about any untoward influence he might have had on the children.

"He was very good with young children, and I hope that he hasn't taught
them the wrong things," said Kahl, 83. Kahl is disturbed by the priest's
hypocrisy at the pulpit as well.

"I can't understand how anybody can tell you what to do and then do those
things," he said. "You wouldn't think that a man of the cloth ... you just
would never even think it. He talked a lot about his home and his bringing
up, and it was all beautiful."

In September 2000, after he was robbed in the rectory, Crandall urged his
congregation to pray for the man who brandished a gun and left him tied up
with his own shoelaces. "It's a shame something like this has to happen to
shake people up and make them realize what's important in life," he said at
Sunday Mass the next day. "It could be easy to say this is just another
indication of how people act and to give up on people altogether. But we
can't do that."

Four suspects pleaded no contest to involvement in the robbery.

Diocese Surprised

But the popular priest also displayed characteristics that clashed with the
typical image of a man of the cloth.

He was the priest with vanity plates - FRTHOM - on his Jeep Cherokee. He
owned a condo in New Orleans and was so zealous a Notre Dame football fan,
he bleached his hair blond to match the team's gold helmets and the
school's golden dome on its administration building.

He was recognized in an article published on Ambushmag.com, a gay- and
lesbian-oriented Web site. In August 1996, Crandall attended an anniversary
party for Rip and Marsha Naquin-Delain, the article reported. The famous
New Orleans couple - two men, one cross-dressing - were celebrating 22
years of domestic partnership.

The story is still posted on the Web site.

The party raised $8,132 for the a New Orleans AIDS charity, the article
reported. Diocesan spokesman Monsignor Michael Reed said he was unaware of
any involvement Crandall may have had in New Orleans' gay community. He
also was unaware of the second home.

The diocese was blindsided by the drug charges.

"In the 20 years he's been ordained, there has never been anything said
about him that would lead anybody to suspect anything," Reed said.

Seminary students undergo rigorous spiritual exploration and intensive
annual reviews by supervisors to determine if they have the moral and
psychological merit to serve as priests, Reed said.

At ordination, they pledge to maintain chastity, to live within their means
and to obey their bishop. For the first several years of a priest's career,
he is supervised by a senior pastor.

But Reed said the rigorous process of seminary is assumed generally to weed
out bad seeds. Once a man is ordained a priest, the diocese makes an
enduring commitment to him and trusts that he conducts his life as a pastor
should.

If the bishop believes a priest is behaving contrary to his promises, he
will intervene, Reed said.

The diocese hired Roy Kinsey as Crandall's lawyer but expects him to
reimburse the diocese for any costs incurred in his defense.

"We still have an interest to protect the good things that (the Catholic
Church does)," Reed said. "We provide him the defense he deserves and try
to deflect unnecessary attention that would turn a fair trial into a
circus." Crandall no longer has the blessing of the diocese to conduct
Mass, to hear confessions or otherwise perform the functions of a priest.

However, "once you're ordained, you're ordained. It cannot be taken away,"
Reed said.

As to what becomes of Crandall once he's released, Reed said:

"People can always be forgiven. We certainly would offer him forgiveness if
he is genuinely remorseful for what he's done. But reinstatement (as an
active priest) is not a possibility."

The Rev. Thomas Collins will serve as a temporary administrator of
Crandall's Milton parish as the diocese searches for a permanent
replacement. Collins inherits a shaken congregation. Said Jones: "We are
somewhere between the initial shock, and now it's shifting a little toward
anger."

Diocese Reponse

Concerning the drug case of the Rev. Thomas Crandall, the Pensacola-
Tallahassee Diocese responds:

The Catholic community of Northwest Florida continues to grieve and
acknowledge that the actions of Father Crandall have brought great pain and
disappointment to our community of faith. We affirm the work of law
enforcement personnel and the judicial system in addressing the problem of
illegal drugs, which continue to tear away and destroy the fabric of human
life and particularly devastate the lives of loved ones. The diocese
continues to call all Catholics and men and women of good will to pray for
all those affected by this terrible calamity.