Civil or criminal? Charges questioned in Rev. Enea case

Author: Rocco LaDuca

Date Published: 09/19/2013

Publication: Observer-Dispatch (Utica NY)

The Very Rev. Stephen Enea, archbishop of the Italo-Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas and Canada, stands in Oneida County Court on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, after asking for 2 weeks to consider a plea offer related to charges that he allegedly didn't pay contractors nearly $500,000 for renovations to the Italo-Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral in Utica. ROCCO LADUCA / Observer-Dispatch

UTICA — As the Very Rev. Stephen Enea faces criminal charges for allegedly failing to pay contractors for nearly $500,000 in church renovations, his defense attorney is questioning whether the case is more of a civil dispute instead.

During a brief proceeding in Oneida County Court Thursday, Enea’s attorney, Cory Zennamo, asked for more time before deciding whether Enea would accept a plea offer or take his case to trial.

As the archbishop of the Italo-Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas and Canada, Enea and the church’s chief operating officer, Phillip Barker Jr., are facing a number of charges including second-degree and third-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud and five counts of issuing a bad check in 2010 and 2011.

But Enea is not accused of actually stealing any money to benefit himself, and he has said that it was always his intention to pay the bill after the restoration work began in Utica about two years ago. After a promised financial donation from a confidential source fell through, however, Enea said the church just didn’t have the funds to put toward the debt.

“The District Attorney’s Office is going in a direction that, at best, is very civil in nature,” Zennamo said. “I don’t see a criminal case here based on the information I have.”

While the defense sees as an apparent dispute over money, prosecutors allege that it was the fraudulent intent of Enea and Barker from the start to cheat the contractors out of any payments. Whether the anticipated donation that allegedly fell through ever existed in the first place has yet to be explored in court.

Until Enea sees all of the supporting documents that prosecutors have, Zennamo said it’s too soon to decide what their next steps will be. Enea and Barker are due back in court on Thursday, Sept. 26, to review the prosecution’s evidence and set a trial date.

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