Albany sex offender may be free for another week

Matter of convicted ex-deacon’s sentence to be taken up on Oct. 23

Angel Garcia, a defrocked deacon who was convicted in 2014 of two counts of sexually abusing his goddaughter and then avoided ser ving a five-year prison sentence, will remain free at least until next week despite the wishes of the district attorney ’s office and the sheriff ’s willingness to take him into custody.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ office sent a letter to Judge William Carter on Wednesday asking him to order Garcia to surrender and begin his sentence. The matter is scheduled to be taken up Oct. 23, according to the Albany County Court Clerk ’s office.

Garcia, 66, has been living

quietly in an apartment in the Pine Hills neighborhood after slipping through the cracks of a court system that found him g uilty five years ago of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old g irl in 2003.

“Surrender is a lways at the discretion of the court; the People do not have an avenue to mandate that he turn himself in,” the A lbany County district attorney ’s spokeswoman said in a statement Thursday. “We opposed a ll prev ious stays and release decisions, and would hope he is placed in custody as soon as lega lly possible.”

Sherif f Craig Apple says his agency is ready at any time to pick up Garcia.

“I just need the judge to g ive me the go-a head,” Apple said Thursday. “The g uy ’s been conv icted; the g uy ’s been sentenced.”

Garcia was convicted in Aug ust 2014 and sentenced the follow ing month, but was released nine days later a f ter a mid-level appeals court g ranted him an unusual stay of judg ment that allowed him to walk free while his attorney appealed the case. That stay was renewed twice in 2015, and Garcia f iled his appeal that December.

The mid-level court unanimously denied his appeal in July 2016. A subsequent ef for t to appeal the case to the state Court of Appeals was rejected the next month. At that point, Garcia should have been ordered to surrender to authorities and beg in his sentence.

Garcia’s status was revealed Wednesday when the Times Union asked Soares’ of f ice about Garcia’s absence from the state’s prison and sex offender reg istries.

Garcia could not be reached for comment; he was not home Wednesday when a Times Union reporter stopped by his current address.

The reason Garcia was never ordered to surrender af ter the denial of his appeal is a matter of some dispute — specif ica lly, a disag reement over who was responsible to notif y the tria l judge that Garcia has expended his legal options.

Citing long-standing practice, a Court of Appeals spokesman on Thursday said the order denying the appeal would have been sent to only two recipients: the assistant district attorney who handled the case, and Garcia’s defense attorney. The Albany County District Attorney ’s of f ice, however, cited t wo sections of the state’s criminal procedural law as it contended the Court of Appeals was required to notif y the tria l judge.

The judge who denied Garcia’s appeal to the high court was Sheila Abdus-salaam, who died by suicide in April 2017.

Garcia worked for the Diocese of Albany for a decade before he was removed from active ministr y in 2010. The diocese released him based on “reasonable g rounds” that he had sexually abused a minor in the early 1990s before he became a deacon in 2000, diocese spokeswoman Mary DeTurris Poust said.

He had ser ved as deacon at what was known as the Church of the Holy Family — formerly known as St. Patrick ’s Church — on Central Avenue in Albany, where he was “specif ica lly assig ned to ser ve the Hispanic community there,” she said. He also ser ved as a chaplain at Greene Correctiona l Facilit y in Coxsackie, Greene County.

Garcia was charged in 2013 af ter the sur v ivor of the 2003 assault came for ward. She was Garcia’s goddaughter and downstairs neighbor.

Since Garcia’s conviction and sentencing, he has maintained a low profile. The Times Union could not confirm whether he has worked since evading his sentence, nor if he has had access to children.

Garcia is orig inally from Puerto Rico and star ted his career as a radio host, according to a website he set up to promote himself as a voiceover actor.

According to the site, he studied Relig ious Education at St. Bernard’s Institute in Rochester, Maria College in A lbany and Catholic University of America in Washing ton, D.C. It ’s unclear whether he g raduated or received a deg ree from any of those schools. ■ ■ ■