A defrocked Catholic priest suspected of sexually abusing dozens of young boys in the 1980s and 1970s, spent his final years living with his new husband, rumored to be as young as 15 years, and going online using fake aliases to meet young men.
James Brzyski was found dead in a Super 7 motel on Seminary Road in Fort Worth, Texas, last September, CBS News reported.
An autopsy found that the 66-year-old, who suffered from heart disease, had a high quantity of vodka and anti-depressants in his system but police ruled out foul play. He’s buried in a pauper’s grave in Arlington in October.
James Brzyski (left as a priest in the 1970s and 80s) was found dead in a Super 7 motel on Seminary Road in Fort Worth, Texas, last September
Ordained in 1977, Brzyski was thought to have raped or molested possibly more than 100 children, according to the grand jury.
‘This man was a monster,’ said John Delaney, who was allegedly raped by Brzyski when he was just 11 years old, in the early 1980s at Saint Cecilia Parish in Philadelphia.
‘As bad as you could possibly imagine it could be, that’s what happened,’ he said. ‘It broke me as a kid.’
The allegations finally came to light in the 2000s when the Catholic Church scandal broke, and in 2005, a Philadelphia grand jury heard that Brzyski had sexually assaulted between 17 and 100 victims, with boys as young as ten.
Brzyski, a parish priest, at Saint John the Evangelist in Lower Makefield, and associate pastor at St. Cecilia’s in the Fox Chase section of Northeast Philadelphia, was referred to as one of the ‘most brutal abusers’ ever in the Catholic church.
Brzyski set up multiple aliases online, such as Joshua Williams and Joshua in Dallas, across numerous social media platforms
Despite the lengthy list of charges, Brzyski was never charged as the allegations surpassed the statute of limitations.
‘It was swept under the rug,’ Delaney said.
Brzyski was kicked out the church and disappeared, moving from place to place, all over Philadelphia, before leaving the state entirely, to move to Dallas in 2010.
Now a new investigation reveals that he spent his final years living with his very young husband, and surfing the web to speak to teens and men online.
His Dallas neighbors were not aware of the pedophile allegations that dogged the disgraced priest, but told reporters they remembered an Australian man moving in with him in 2014.
The pair married in Oklahoma in December 2014 when Brzyski was 63 and his partner 21, according to their marriage license, obtained by CBS.
Brzyski was found dead in a Super 7 motel (pictured) and an autopsy found that the 66-year-old, who suffered from heart disease, had a high quantity of vodka and anti-depressants in his system but police ruled out foul play
Officers found memory sticks at the scene but say they did not contain any evidence of crimes
However, a police report from January 2015 – just one month after they were married – lists the husband as just 15. Police had been called out to a fight between Brzyski and his husband but does not show any charges being brought against the former priest.
In fact, Dallas police officers made contact with Brzyski five times in the past seven years, although none of those were related to child sexual assaults.
CBS reports that the pair broke up in early 2015. Brzyski’s ex’s family declined to talk about their relationship.
His break-up didn’t stop Brzyski and his pursuit of young men however.
Brzyski set up multiple aliases online, such as Joshua Williams and Joshua in Dallas, across numerous social media platforms.
He had at least seven social media accounts, including Instagram and Tumblr, which all focused on overweight young men or boys.
‘I am a feeder in Dallas,’ he tweeted in May 2016 on one of his accounts, with an accompanying email address and phone number. ‘I will fatten you without limit.’
Detective Jeff Rich, a child exploitation expert, said Brzyski’s interactions online showed him seeking out ‘friends’ in those ‘typically more vulnerable types in our society.’