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Priest arrested on date-rape drug chargesBy COLLEEN KRANTZRegister Staff Writer 01/30/2002 Davenport, Ia. - Federal authorities have charged a Roman Catholic priest from Illinois and two Quad Cities men with making a "date-rape" drug in Davenport. The Rev. Jeffery Windy, priest for St. Patrick's in Sheffield, Ill., and St. Margaret Mary's in Wyanet, Ill., gave a parishioner the main ingredient for the drug and eventually began making and selling it, court documents filed this week in U.S. District Court in Davenport allege. The documents say Windy, 31, conspired with Timothy O'Brien of Davenport and Bradley Bush of Rock Island, Ill., to make and sell gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB. Federal drug charges have been filed against O'Brien and Bush. Part of the charge against Windy is that he purchased the solvent GBL, or gamma-butyrolactone, which is a chemical ingredient in GHB, said Al Overbaugh, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Windy was released from Scott County Jail on Tuesday to the supervision of his parents, officials said. The charges against Windy shook residents of the small Illinois towns where he leads Catholic churches. "It was kind of a shock to hear something like that," said Sheffield resident Mary Jo Rosenow. "It's like a divided reaction. There are so many that believe in him and think it's not true." Sheffield and Wyanet are about an hour's drive east of the Quad Cities. O'Brien, 34, was in the Scott County Jail Tuesday afternoon, and Bush, 26, was in the Rock Island County Jail. GHB is one of several drugs described as date-rape drugs because they have been used to incapacitate women. GHB is a depressant that produces feelings of euphoria and hallucinations. A typical"street dose" is a soda bottle cap full, court records say. It's unclear whether the men sold the drug to anyone who planned to attempt a rape. Windy did not return a call Tuesday afternoon. His mother in Peru, Ill., said the family didn't want to comment. Doug Scovil, Windy's Quad Cities attorney, also declined to comment. The Catholic Diocese of Peoria, which includes the Sheffield and Wyanet churches, issued a statement saying it "will cooperate to the full extent of the law with police and federal authorities." The diocese said it is working to "provide pastoral care to the parishioners of St. Patrick's and St. Margaret's who have suffered a great shock and sadness." The case against Windy developed after a confidential source told a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent that he or she had seen Windy and O'Brien making the drug three times in the spring of 2001 at O'Brien's Davenport house, court documents say. An undercover agent bought a half-gallon of the liquid drug from O'Brien in July and a gallon in October from O'Brien and Bush, according to court records. Court records refer to Windy as O'Brien's priest. When O'Brien was arrested Friday, he told authorities that Windy first supplied the main ingredient but later learned how to make the drug and sold 6 to 10 gallons to O'Brien, court documents say. Bush, arrested the same day, said Windy constantly asked O'Brien how to make GHB and was a "very crooked priest." |
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