In Homer, New York, a clergyman from Central New York pleaded guilty to misbehavior with a minor, resulting in a sentence of probation. Thirty-seven year old Nathan Brooks, who was apprehended in September 2023 on allegations of inappropriate contact with a young girl from 2019 to 2021, confessed to sending indecorous messages. The court filings in Homer Town Court also indicated that he had been sending the girl messages with a provocative tone.
Brooks was connected with several religious establishments at the moment he was arrested. He was an administrative figure in found in multiple institutions, namely the Church of the Nativity at St. Joseph in LaFayette, the Immaculate Conception in Pompey, St. Leo in Tully, and St. Patrick Mission in Otisco.
The Cortland County District Attorney’s Office issued a news release revealing details about the case. This past Tuesday, Nathan Brooks admitted to sending indecent messages to the victim over the course of 2020 and 2021.
Brooks’ guilty plea related to the endangerment of a child’s well-being led to his probationary sentence. The DA’s office was the origin of this information. This admission also aided in handling the charges that were brought up in the Cortland City Court, revolving around his inappropriate interaction with a minor during a church-organized expedition.
However, the Cortland County district attorney realized they were unable to prosecute the charges involving the church trip as it originated from Onondaga County. Consequently, the accusations of Brooks’ forcible touching were expunged.
The resolution of the plea agreement was supervised and reviewed by the offices of the district attorneys from both counties involved, as well as the victim’s family, as informed by the press release. This action came about following the victim, now of legal age, approaching the police with suspicions that Brooks might be behaving wrongly with other girls.
This young lady, in her deposition to the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office, outlined the occurrences involving inappropriate communication and physical contact. She recalled receiving unsuitably playful text messages, wherein Brooks made allusions to characters from the TV show ‘The Office.’
She disclosed that Brooks asked her to erase these communications, in an effort to keep her mom oblivious to their contact. It was only a few months before her 18th birthday that she began to comprehend the situation was not right.
Deciding to halt all interactions with Brooks, the girl confided in her mother about the ordeal in June 2023. She admitted to the deputies at the sheriff’s office, ‘I had several encounters with [Brooks] that unsettled me, and I now understand he was grooming me.’
Brooks was originally ordained in 2019 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception located in Syracuse. The spokesperson for the Syracuse Catholic Diocese confirmed his suspension since his September arrest and stated that he would remain out of service until the conclusion of an internal inquiry within the church.
The inappropriate messages that Brooks confessed to sending are also a breach of the rules and regulations of the church on clergy communication with minors, as pointed out by the prosecutors. This violation adds another dimension to Brooks’ misdeeds.
The Cortland County District Attorney’s office also insinuated that the Syracuse Catholic Diocese, although cooperative during the investigation, initially made some mistakes which were at odds with the church’s pledged commitment to local district attorney’s offices. The District Attorney’s office criticized the Diocese for late revelation of the allegations, for not affirmatively confirming the reporting of the incident to the law enforcement, and for underestimating the misconduct committed by the malefactor.
Despite the Syracuse Catholic Diocese’s assistance in the investigation, Cortland County DA’s office expressed their disappointment in the church’s mishandling of the initial stages of the investigation. This led to a delay in acknowledging the severity of the charges, and failed to comply with the church’s pledge made to the local district attorneys.
As per the District Attorney’s office, the diocese delayed the disclosure of the allegations, failed to confirm the legal filing of the reported incident, and downplayed the seriousness of the offenses committed. These discrepancies contrast sharply with the commitment the diocese should have shown in such grave circumstances.
The serious missteps by the diocese, as evidenced by their belated disclosure of allegations, failure to confirm the legal reporting of the incident, and under-acknowledgement of the offender’s conduct, have cast a spotlight on the church’s response to such situations.
Missteps on part of the diocese, such as the delayed disclosure, non-verification of legal notification, and minimization of the offender’s illicit conduct, have been highlighted by the DA’s office statements, reflecting poorly on the cooperation promised.