LifeSiteNews: Man extorted $90,000 from priest with threats of false sexual accusations

Robert Sammut of Niagra Falls, Ontario was sentenced to 18 months in prison recently for the crime. Sammut extorted money from the priest using the threat of filing false sexual abuse charges as leverage. The priest did not contact police until Sammut had bled him dry. His bank accounts were emptied and his credit cards maxed out.

Despite the good reputation of the priest in St. Catharine’s, the Assistant Crown attorney Graeme Leach said that the priest has been traumatized by the extortion.

“There will be an ongoing victimization of the (priest),” Leach said, observing that the priest does not have the money to pay back the money he borrowed from others to pay Sammut.