Cornwall Free News
The Alexandria Cornwall Catholic Diocese issued a release today related to charges against Deacon Peter McBride, 78.
According to Florida media he was observed receiving a sex act while in a massage room.
Oddly enough the release above is different than the one in Florida which reported that the US diocese notified our local as opposed to the release stating that they learned from the media?
“Peter McBride is a deacon from Canada and not incardinated in the Diocese of Palm Beach, however he had been given permission to minister while he was here. Since all clergy are fingerprinted before they are given permission to minister, and their fingerprints are retained on file in the event of any legal action involving law enforcement, the Diocese was recently notified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that an incident had occurred. The Deacon’s permission to perform any public ministry in the Diocese of Palm Beach was immediately rescinded and his home Diocese in Canada was notified.”
The massage parlors were alleged to have been involved in human trafficking as well as sex work.
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Cornwall deacon caught in Florida human trafficking sting suspended
Ottawa Citizen
Staff Reporter
Updated: March 1, 2019
Booking photo of Cornwall resident Peter George McBride, 78, charged with soliciting prostitution INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
A deacon working at the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall has been suspended from ministry after he was arrested in last week’s human trafficking sweep in Vero Beach, Florida.
Peter McBride, 78, was released on a US$1,000 bond after being charged with soliciting prostitution in a sting by Indian River County law enforcement agencies and Vero Beach police.
Police alleged human traffickers lured women to the massage parlours, were they would be forced to work as prostitutes. Police alleged McBride solicited sex from one of the women at East Spa in Vero Beach, and was observed receiving a sex act.
Police are quoted as saying officers do not believe clients were aware the women were there against their will.
There is a suggestion from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that fingerprints taken of all clergy given permission to minister in the state played a role in the allegation and charge.
The Diocese of Palm Beach is quoted in several Florida media reports as saying it was notified of McBride’s charge and immediately rescinded his permission to perform any public ministry within the diocese. The Florida diocese had previously allowed McBride to minister at St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Vero Beach, where he spends his winters.
It also said it had contacted the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, although in the Alexandria-Cornwall diocese’s statement distributed by director of administration Deacon Pierre Aubé, the diocese said it learned of McBride’s arrest through local media.
The Standard-Freeholder had contacted the dioceses on Thursday to confirm reports a local deacon had been arrested in Florida. The diocese’s statement was distributed Friday morning.
McBride’s suspension has been referred to the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall’s committee for safe environment.
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Cornwall deacon suspended after Florida arrest
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
A deacon working within the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall has been suspended from ministry after he was arrested in Vero Beach, Fla.
Peter McBride was released from police custody on a US$1,000 bond after being charged with soliciting prostitution in a sting by Indian River County law enforcement agencies and Vero Beach police last week.
Police had been conducting an investigation of several spas in Indian River County as part of a larger investigation into human trafficking in the state.
Police alleged human traffickers lured women to the massage parlours, were they would be forced to work as prostitutes. Police alleged McBride solicited sex from one of the women at East Spa in Vero Beach, and was observed receiving a sex act.
Police are quoted as saying officers do not believe clients were aware the women were there against their will.
There is a suggestion from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that fingerprints taken of all clergy given permission to minister in the state played a role in the allegation and charge.
The Diocese of Palm Beach is quoted in several Florida media reports as saying it was notified of McBride’s charge and immediately rescinded his permission to perform any public ministry within the diocese. The Florida diocese had previously allowed McBride to minister at St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Vero Beach, where he spends his winters.
It also said it had contacted the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, where McBride is incardinated– though in the Alexandria-Cornwall diocese’s statement distributed by director of administration Deacon Pierre Aube, the diocese said it learned of McBride’s arrest through local media.
The Standard-Freeholder had contacted the dioceses on Thursday to confirm reports a local deacon had been arrested in Florida. The diocese’s statement was distributed Friday morning.
McBride’s suspension has been referred to the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall’s committee for safe environment.
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Local deacon caught in Florida human trafficking sting
Cornwall Newswatch
02 March 2019
In this photo from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, Peter George McBride, 78, of Vero Beach, Fla. is charged with soliciting prostitution. He is among 173 suspects arrested in a human trafficking sting in the Vero Beach, Fla. area. (Indian River County Sheriff’s Office via Newswatch Group)
VERO BEACH, Fla. – A local deacon with the Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic Diocese is among 173 people charged in a human trafficking sting in Florida.
State police authorities issued warrants after a six month investigation into human traffickers, who were luring vulnerable women into massage parlours where they were coerced into working as prostitutes.
The 173 suspects are facing various charges from human trafficking to racketeering and soliciting prostitution.
Peter McBride, 78, was arrested last week and charged. He is accused of soliciting sex at a Vero Beach spa – one of the five spas in Indian River County that were part of the investigation, according to Treasure Coast News.
He has been released on $1,000 bond.
McBride was visiting and had received permission to minister at the local church while he was in town. That has been revoked and the Canadian diocese was immediately notified of the situation, the paper reported.
Vero Beach is about 250 kilometers north of Miami, Fla. on the state’s east coast.
Alexandria-Cornwall Deacon Pierre Aube issued a statement to Cornwall media Friday morning, stating that Peter McBride has been immediately suspended from the ministry and the case has been referred to the Committee for Safe Environment.
McBride, who is listed on the St. Peter’s Parish website as a deacon, spends his winters in Vero Beach, Fla.
The Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic Diocese says it won’t comment further on the case.
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Catholic deacon arrested in prostitution sting
WBPF
Deacon Peter McBride ministered in Vero Beach
Updated: 11:21 PM EST Feb 26, 2019
VERO BEACH, Fla. —Of the hundreds of men arrested in the last week on charges of soliciting prostitution, police have now identified one suspect as a Catholic deacon.
Deacon Peter McBride was arrested in Vero Beach.
The Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach said McBride was visiting from Canada and had been ministering at St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Vero Beach while he was here.
According to court documents, McBride is accused of going to the East Spa in Vero Beach on Dec. 8, where he was observed receiving a sex act.
Police later raided that spa and several others, saying the women performing the sex acts inside were there against their will.
Police said those women were victims of human trafficking.
Investigators do not believe clients such as McBride knew the women were at the spas involuntarily.
In response to the arrest, the Diocese of Palm Beach released a statement:
“Peter McBride is a deacon from Canada and not incardinated in the Diocese of Palm Beach, however he had been given permission to minister while he was here. Since all clergy are fingerprinted before they are given permission to minister, and their fingerprints are retained on file in the event of any legal action involving law enforcement, the Diocese was recently notified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that an incident had occurred. The Deacon’s permission to perform any public ministry in the Diocese of Palm Beach was immediately rescinded and his home Diocese in Canada was notified.”
McBride is currently free on $1,000 bond.
He declined to comment to a WPBF 25 News crew, saying only, “It’s now in the hands of the lawyers.”
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The Vero Beach Police Department hosts a news conference Feb. 21, 2019 detailing a prostitution and human trafficking ring that was busted across Treasure Coast, Palm Beach and Orange counties. Hannah Schwab, hannah.schwab@tcpalm.com
A visiting deacon at a Vero Beach Catholic church is one of dozens of men accused of soliciting prostitution as part of a human trafficking investigation in Indian River County.
Peter McBride, a former visiting deacon at St. Helen’s Catholic Church, was arrested last week after he allegedly went to East Spa in Vero Beach and solicited sex. McBride is currently released on $1,000 bond.
East Spa is one of five spas Indian River County Sheriff’s deputies and Vero Beach Police officers have shut down as part of a multi-county investigation into potential human trafficking in the spas.
The Diocese of Palm Beach said McBride is a visiting deacon from Canada, and had received permission from the diocese to minister while he was in town. He is now not permitted to minister in local churches, a spokeswoman said.
“Since all clergy are fingerprinted before they are given permission to minister, and their fingerprints are retained on file in the event of any legal action involving law enforcement, the Diocese was recently notified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that an incident had occurred. The Deacon’s permission to perform any public ministry in the Diocese of Palm Beach was immediately rescinded and his home Diocese in Canada was notified,” the diocese said in a statement.
Staff members at the church declined to comment about the arrest.
A six-month investigation revealed human traffickers were luring vulnerable women to massage parlors in Indian River County, where they were coerced into working as prostitutes, Vero Beach police announced Thursday.
Indian River County agencies issued warrants for 173 people, on charges ranging from human trafficking to racketeering to soliciting prostitution.
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12-13 June 2015: First Ontario District Cardinal McGuigan Province 2015 Exemplification in Honour of Monsignor Rudy Villeneauve hosted by Bishop Brodeur Assembly 0977 (
And back to Cornwall, and Florida!
As noted by the Cornwall Free News, strange indeed the dioceses’s claim to have learned of their 79-year-old vacationing deacon’s arrest arrest only via media? Not at all consistent with reports from the Diocese of Palm Beach, which states in part:
“
This also happened (in a motel room) in Cornwall:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/03/19/toronto-catholic-diocese-on-hook-for-530k-for-priest-abuse-of-altar-boy.html