Sex Abuse of the RCC

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Priest Charged Over Date-Rape Drug

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 29, 2002; 8:15 PM

DAVENPORT, Iowa –– A 31-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been charged with helping make and distribute the "date-rape" drug GHB.

The Rev. Jeffrey Windy, 31, was released to his parents' custody Tuesday after posting $100,000 bond. He had been arrested Friday and charged in federal court along with two other men, Timothy O'Brien and Bradley Bush, both of Davenport.

According to court documents, Windy and O'Brien were seen making the drug at O'Brien's house last May. Undercover narcotics agents allegedly later bought the drug from O'Brien.

Court documents also said a chemical company's records showing 25 gallons of a solvent used in the making of GHB were sold to St. Patrick's Church in Sheffield, Ill., where Windy worked.

Windy was suspended from his duties at St. Patrick's Church and St. Margaret Mary's in Wyanet, Ill., pending the outcome of the case, said Kate Kenny, spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

Both Sheffield and Wyanet are towns of about 1,000, about 50 miles east of the Quad Cities.

During Tuesday's detention hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields agreed to release Windy to his parents, who live in Peru, Ill. He will stay with them on home detention until his trial, which has not been scheduled.

Windy's attorney, Doug Scovil, did not return phone calls to his Rock Island, Ill., office Tuesday evening.

GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, is known as a date-rape drug for its ability to incapacitate people and leave them vulnerable to sexual assault. It is also used as a hallucinogen and to stimulate muscle growth in bodybuilders.

Priest's 'Secret Life' Leads to Arrest for Producing Date Rape Drug

By Allie Martin
January 30, 2002

(AgapePress) - Federal agents have arrested a 31-year-old Roman Catholic priest in Illinois and charged him with helping to make and distribute the "date rape drug."

Documents filed in U.S. district court name Jeffrey Windy, a priest at St. Patrick's Church in Sheffield and St. Margaret Mary's in Wyanet, Illinois. Two Iowa men, Tim O'Brien and Bradley Bush, were also charged with making the drug, known as "GHB," by the gallon at O'Brien's Davenport home. Court documents say Windy learned to make the drug and sold O'Brien six-to-ten gallons of the drug.

According to court records, Windy was leading a secret life apart from that of a small-town priest. The Chicago Tribune says a confidential source reported having seen O'Brien and Windy make GHB three times in the past two months.

Windy was released to the custody of his parents, who live in Peru, under the conditions of a $100,000 unsecured bond. The Catholic Diocese of Peoria said it would cooperate with authorities conducting the investigation.