Bishop Pleads Guilty For July Groping Incident

The bishop over the local Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church pleaded guilty yesterday in Traverse City, Mich., to a reduced felony criminal sexual conduct charge stemming from an assault in July in which he was accused of groping a woman’s breast.

Bishop Demetri Khoury, 55, of Toledo entered the guilty plea to one count of attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct before Grand Traverse Circuit Court Judge Philip Rogers. He faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $500 when he is sentenced April 16.

Alan Schneider, chief assistant prosecutor in Grand Traverse County, said yesterday that the plea agreement was worked out on the eve of Khoury’s trial, which was to start yesterday.

”On the eve of trial, he decided to acknowledge his guilt rather than go through a trial,” Mr. Schneider explained.

Conviction on the reduced charge shaved a year off his potential jail time and means that any incarceration may be done at a local jail without having to enter Michigan’s prison system.

An accompanying misdemeanor charge was dismissed.

Khoury originally faced a charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for the July 9 incident in which he grabbed the breast of a North Carolina woman seated next to him at a slot machine in the Turtle Creek Casino outside Traverse City. He was highly intoxicated at the time of the incident, which was captured in its entirety on the casino’s security surveillance system, authorities said.

A native of Ramallah in the West Bank, Khoury was ordained as a priest in 1975 and consecrated as a bishop on March 12, 1995.

As bishop, he oversees about 45 churches in the Midwest region, which includes Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ontario.

Church officials at the Antiochian headquarters in New Jersey barred him from performing any religious rites or liturgies pending the outcome of the case.

The church officials could not say yesterday what impact Khoury’s conviction would have on his position. Metropolitan Philip, head of the North American Archdiocese, was unavailable for comment.

Two Antiochian Orthodox churches are in the Toledo area: St. George Orthodox Cathedral on Woodley Road and St. Elias on Harroun Road in Sylvania.