Blanco Monk Found Dead Before Indecency Hearing
Sep 17, 2007 04:20 PM
The body of a Blanco County monk and convicted child molester was found in a trailer Sunday night on the grounds of the Christ of the Hills Monastery.
Sam Greene, 63, was also known as Father Benedict and lived on the monastery grounds. Authorities said Greene spent his final days on the property, where he died among trailers. Much of the ground is overgrown, with abandoned cars scattered about.
The reason for his death is unclear, but he faced a probation hearing Friday for a 1997 child indecency conviction. He was on probation for nine counts of child indecency connected to accusations by a 9-year-old boy at the monastery.
Prosecutors said this week they were going to ask a judge to send Greene to prison. He allegedly violated his terms by going to places without permission and contacting people he was not supposed to.
"We sent the investigators down there. They believed it to be an apparent suicide. But, we don't presuppose anything. We handled those as an unintended death and see what the facts are and go from there," said Sheriff Bill Elsbury of Blanco County.
Greene faced up to 20 years on each of the nine counts of child molestation. The assistant district attorney said she was going to ask the judge to stack the sentences.
The entryway off County Road 103 of the Russian Orthodox Church in southern Blanco County is closed, since fraud and more molestation charges were leveled last year.
Brother Moses, the Blanco County monk who reported Greene's death, declined to comment.
