HARTFORD:  FUGITIVE PRIEST ARRAIGNED

A Roman Catholic priest known as Oskar Pelaez by the Hartford police and as Oscar Alberto Pelaez by the police in California, was arraigned in Superior Court in Hartford yesterday after being arrested on Saturday at a Hartford behavioral treatment center.  The 35 year old priest was sought in California as a fugitive from justice on child molestation charges.  He served at Sacred Heart Church in Turlock, California.  He was charged with being a fugitive from justice and held in $500,000 bail.  He agreed to be extrdited to California, where he is wanted on nine counts of child molestation, two counts of sodomy with a minor and two counts of oral intercourse with a minor.

(Hartford, Connecticut)