By Ike Nnamdi with Agency reports
A Nigerian Catholic priest, Vincent Inametti, 48, has been sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with two female inmates at Federal Medical Centre Carswell, United States.
U.S. District Judge Terry Means also ordered Inametti to pay $3,000 in fines and will be on supervised release for two years after completion of his jail term. Inametti was taken into custody after he was sentenced, in the city of the Forth Worth, Texas.
He had pleaded guilty to both counts when the charges were read to him in November. Also, he apologized to the court, government, medical centre, inmates, victims and God.
“I’m asking this morning for mercy,” he told the court.
Inametti’s journey to prison started after the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General received a complaint in March 2007 detailing sexual involvement between him and an inmate identified in documents as D.D., who was serving an 11-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
An investigation revealed another sexual involvement between Inametti and another inmate identified as E.R., who was serving a sentence of 12 years, and seven months for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.
According to reports, both inmates were under the “custodial, supervision, or disciplinary authority” of Inametti.
On or about February 18, 2006, Inametti invited D.D. to the chapel library for sex and in June or July 2006; he summoned E.R. to a classroom in the chapel for sex.
In sentencing Inametti, the judge used more blunt than legal terminology such as “sex abuse of a ward.”
Means said: “This is rape and this is sodomy.”
Inametti’s lack of criminal history suggested that he might get a sentence between 10 and 16 months. The statutory maximum is five years. But the judge said that the priest’s crimes were “surprisingly heinous” and that he had violated a twofold trust: as an employee of the federal prison and as a priest.
“For this, he will face a higher authority than this one,” Means said.
On Monday, the defence called two witnesses. They include an inmate at the medical centre, Tammi Allowitz. As a chaplain’s office worker, she was familiar with both victims. The one identified in court as E.R. “was in love with Father Inametti,” Allowitz said.
She described the situation as rival lovers fighting over one man. Prosecutor John Bradford asked Allowitz to give the basic information of her own sentence, which was 12 years and seven months for attempted murder for hire. In court documents, defence attorneys maintained that the sex was consensual and that a reasonable sentence would be lower than that suggested by federal guidelines.
Inametti is not part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. He was ordained in Nigeria.
He is a member of a Nigeria-based religious order called the Missionary Society of St. Paul. Before 2000, he served parishes in Eastland County as well as at Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, in Fort Worth. In 2000, at his request, he was given limited faculties to hear confessions and offer Mass in the prison.
These duties were taken away from him when diocesan officials learned of the federal investigation.
Inametti had many supporters in the audience, including three who spoke before the court. They said that his crimes were inconsistent with the majority of his life's work and that priests are merely men and susceptible to physical temptations.
Means, however, drew a distinction between ordinary mistakes and moral transgressions. In a classroom, he said, “a student who makes an error on a test has made a mistake. Someone who copies off another's paper, however, is cheating and has made a moral decision that goes beyond a simple mistake. What I see here is a moral transgression of great magnitude."
The Sun News On-line
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