Defrocked priest who 'groomed teen and fled to Italy' had been exorcised himself
Police are searching for a fleeing priest over claims he groomed a teenager while working at the school she attended, and now it has emerged he was once exorcised.
Defrocked Father Alex Crow is alleged to have fled to Italy with an unidentified teen, 18, who was a student at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, Alabama. The 30-year-old taught theology classes and also heard confessions during his time at the school where he himself is a graduate.
Crow is believed to have told people he was going to Italy to perform exorcisms and the former priests had a love of the subject of demonology. The former rock musician said on a podcast in 2022 that he was cured of chest pains and migraines after a "minor exorcism" from another priest.
During the 2022 podcast appearance, Crow said: "I grew up in a weird home, both familially, but also a lot of weird stuff happening in the house. You'd hear things moving around or banging in different rooms. I'd see things from time to time as a kid, always assuming I was kind of, hyper, or just looking too much into stuff."
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Father Crow was interested in demonology (archdiocese of mobile)"Clearly there was some sort of a relationship other than a priest and a student," said Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch. Police said they discovered a love letter from Crow on Valentine's Day, which would have been written when the graduate was a student.
Sheriff Burch said to NBC 15: "I believe there was some grooming that’s gone on, and you’ve got a much older adult interacting with teenage girls in an inappropriate way." The police chief noted it was possible Crow could have been involved with more female students.
The woman's parents have flown to Italy to beg their daughter to return home, but neither she nor Crow reportedly has any intention of doing so.
"They're afraid something is going to happen to their daughter,' attorney Christine Hernandez told NBC 15 News," saying a press conference had been cancelled for fears for the woman's safety. "She is with someone who the sheriff's office considers a predator," Hernandez added.
Crow has been defrocked (Extraordinary Faith/facebook)The young woman is reported to have told a family member she went with the priest of her own volition and insisted there was no romantic relationship between them.
"His behaviour is totally unbecoming of a priest," Archbishop Thomas Rodi said in a statement last month after the priest was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Mobile after working in the Corpus Christi Parish. "He has been informed by the archbishop that he may no longer exercise ministry as a priest, nor to tell people he is a priest, nor to dress as a priest."
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