Slain N.J. priest spoke of firing accused janitor

CHATHAM, N.J. (RNS) Two days before he was found stabbed to death in a church rectory, a New Jersey priest told a school principal a missing background check might force him to lay off the parish janitor, who was later charged in the priest’s slaying, according to court documents. Father Edward Hinds, 61, pastor at […]

CHATHAM, N.J. (RNS) Two days before he was found stabbed to death in a church rectory, a New Jersey priest told a school principal a missing background check might force him to lay off the parish janitor, who was later charged in the priest’s slaying, according to court documents.

Father Edward Hinds, 61, pastor at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, on Oct. 21 told Marianne Hobbie, principal of St. Patrick School, he might “let go” of 64-year-old Jose Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn’t passed a background check, according to the court records filed at district court in Wind Gap, Pa.

Hobbie told police Hinds provided no further information, the document said.


Kenneth Mullaney, an attorney for the Paterson Diocese, said he was unaware of any recent background check performed on Feliciano, but since Feliciano was an employee of the church, rather than of the diocese, he would not necessarily have been informed of it.

Mullaney, who had previously indicated the layoff could be due to money problems, said failing a background check could lead to dismissal.

“If a criminal history background check that was recently conducted demonstrated this guy had some type of a past, some type of a disqualifier, he would have been finished, and there would have been no discretion involved in it.”

Hinds’ body was found Oct. 23 in the church rectory, stabbed 32 times with a kitchen knife. Feliciano was arrested the following day and charged with Hinds’ murder. Police say Felicano, a janitor at the church since 1992, confessed to the killing.

Feliciano has been held in custody in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest. He suffers from various ailments and has remained hospitalized since Friday.

A scheduled bail hearing was abruptly postponed Tuesday (Oct. 27), and Feliciano was transferred from Morristown Memorial Hospital to the Ann Klein Forensic Center, a psychiatric hospital, two officials said.

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