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Enter Mr. Franklin.
Identifying himself alternately as a private
investigator and a lawyer working for Helen Zanas or her brother -
Franklin embarked on a menacing, meticulously plotted scheme to
unseat Theodore and tear apart St. Catherine's parish council,
according to parish council members and Cioffi's report.
``He did an amazing amount of damage over the phone
- all over the phone,'' said a council member who asked to remain
anonymous. ``He played one board member against another. He accused
board members of having affairs, of embezzling money. And he was very
careful. He did the most damage he could do with the least
implication to himself.''
Franklin telephoned Theodore incessantly, bullying
and cajoling him to return Helen Zanas' money and to resign from St.
Catherine's, Theodore told Cioffi. If Theodore didn't resign,
Franklin warned, Helen Zanas' rich and powerful brother, Richard,
would ruin him.
``He also said that Richard would make it so rough
on Father John and on Father John's family that the family would
desert him,'' Cioffi wrote in his report.
Zanas denies that Franklin worked for either her or
her brother. She said Franklin first contacted her over the phone,
saying he was working for people who had been investigating Theodore
for a number of years.
Franklin asked her whether it was true that she had
given Theodore money, Zanas said. She met with him twice after that,
and each time he wore a hat and sunglasses.
``I don't know where he came from,'' she said. ``He
appeared to me to be a very nice man. He offered to try and get my
money back.''
Top-ranking officers of the 15-member council also
heard from Franklin. If they backed Theodore, he told them, they
``would go down with him.''
``Somebody was feeding him information,'' the
council member said. ``He knew about all our meetings, and he knew
what had happened at the meetings.''
Franklin obtained his information so quickly, in
fact, that the council had the church's phones checked for bugs. None
was found.
Franklin's harassment produced immediate results.
Theodore agreed to return the jewelry and the
approximately $45,000 that remained of the money Zanas had given him.
`` `There's a man at the end of your block,' ''
Theodore said Franklin told him in a phone call on Nov. 18. `` `Walk
outside and give him the money.' I walk outside. There he is. I give
him the money.''
Theodore also agreed to resign. Even then, Franklin
badgered him for the rest of Zanas' money, pushing the priest to edge
of a breakdown.
``I started getting deadlines,'' Theodore said. ``
`You have to get the money by Friday. You have to get it.' My head
was ready to blow up.''
The next day, Theodore's blood pressure rose so
high that he ended up at the emergency room at Palm Beach Regional
Hospital, where Franklin paid him a visit.
``He just walked in and said, `I'm Franklin.' Is
everything OK?' ' ' Theodore recalled. ``My wife said, `Yes,' and he
walked out.''
When Theodore returned home, the calls started up again.
``I was told I was being followed,'' Theodore said.
``You get a feeling that everything you do is being watched.''
Theodore finally sought advice from attorney Scott
Richardson, who called police. Theodore also stopped answering his
phone, and Franklin finally stopped calling.
M embers of St. Catherine's congregation,
meanwhile, were receiving crudely worded, anonymous allegations in
the mail saying Theodore had purchased pornographic magazines and
movies and that parish council members were protecting him.
``This evidence was obtained from several outraged
citizens,'' said one letter. ``This council had an obligation to the
parishioners of St. Catherines (sic) to advise us and to report this
to the Bishiop (sic). ``Instead they have covered up this and many
more things about Father John. In fact this council has out and out
lied Why!!!! (sic)' '
The letter was signed, ``Your Humble Servant in
Christ Jesus Our Lord and Saviour Amen.''
The mailings included a notarized statement signed
by the owner of a local Kwik Stop and two business partners who said
Theodore had purchased pornography at the store. Two of the men, Sam
Khater and Samir Mansour, said recently that the statement is
accurate and confirmed signing it.
They also recognized Huston - the owner of the
carpet-cleaning business where Cioffi traced the pager number - from
his police mug shot.
Huston was the man who asked them about the
magazines Theodore purchased, then persuaded them to sign the
statement, Khater and Mansour said.
Cioffi's investigation did not reveal who mailed
the anonymous accusations, which Theodore insists are untrue.
``I'd go in (to the Kwik Stop) for Coke and
cigarettes, but that's it,'' the priest said.
The detective's inquiries did turn up information
that a church member, George Ploumis, claimed to have seen a woman
who walked with a limp inside a local hardware store making copies of
the poison-pen letter later sent to church members. But that tip led
to a dead end.
The same letter reached Koutoufas, Theodore's
bishop, in Atlanta. He dismissed the pornography allegations as
unfounded character assassination, according to Theodore and parish
council members. But the bishop replaced Theodore anyway, on Feb. 1,
for reasons he did not specify to the congregation. Koutoufas could
not be reached for comment.
Mary Ann Zapetis, the secretary at St. Catherine's
for 30 years, also lost her job when the new priest, Father Andrew
Maginas, took over.
Zapetis is close friends with Zanas and had
criticized Theodore and the parish council, other parishioners said.
Franklin at one point told council members that
Zapetis had signed a statement accusing them of harassing her and had
given it to state prosecutors, Cioffi said in his report. But
officials at the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office said they
never received such a statement. Zapetis declined to be interviewed.
Theodore has spent the past few months looking for
a job.
``I was straight with people and I tried to be a
good priest,'' he said of his 10 years at St. Catherine's. ``I was
effective. I was always topical. The church grew. It was a family.''
But some of that family's more conservative members
took exception to Theodore's departure from traditional Greek
customs, and their resentment could have formed the basis for the
public airing of his personal problems, parishioners said.
``Father John was an exceedingly progressive priest
for the orthodox church,'' parishioner Lupien said. ``It got him in
trouble with some people. These people, if you listen to them, you
realize they come from a very narrow mindset. It's their way and no
other way.'' *more
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