Czerkawski, 35, pleaded guilty to eight counts of larceny by check over $250. The money, totaling $4,500, was taken from St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in New Bedford, where Czerkawski had stayed for several months in 2012, according to a statement from the office of District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.
During a sentencing hearing in Fall River Superior, Court Assistant District Attorney Brian Griffin argued that based on a history of convictions, he should serve three to five years in prison.
Czerkawski had requested a one-year sentence at the county House of Corrections, and Judge Raffia Yessayan imposed the prosecution's recommended sentence after hearing arguments from both sides.
A statement from Quinn's office explains how Czerkawski came to stay at the New Bedford church:
In 2012, Czerkawski told officials with the Diocese of Fall River that he wanted to become a priest. He was assigned to St. Lawrence's in New Bedford, because the head pastor at that time (Marek Chmurski) spoke Polish, and the church has a large number of Polish congregants. Czerkawski is a Polish national. He was assigned to the church to explore the seriousness of his calling to become a priest, according to Quinn's statement.
But while living in the church-owned rectory in April of 2012, Czerkawski stole checks and a signature stamp, and made out $4,500 worth of checks to himself, Quinn said.
Czerkawski is currently serving three to five years at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole after he was convicted last year of stealing $130,000 from an elderly woman while he was her live-in caretaker at the same Quincy home where investigators say Puppy Doe was abused.
Although he was also sentenced to three to five years in prison for that larceny case in Norfolk County, Tuesday's conviction in Fall River allowed no credit for time served, according to Quinn spokesman Gregg Miliote. This means he must serve the full three- to five-year prison term, Miliote said.
PUPPY DOE TRIAL PENDING
Czerkawski is awaiting trial in the Puppy Doe case. He has pleaded innocent to multiple charges stemming from allegations that he tortured a female pit bull at a home in Quincy, according to archives of the Patriot Ledger.
The dog, given the nickname Puppy Doe, was euthanized as a result of her injuries after she was found abandoned in a park on Aug. 31, 2013.
Prosecutors say Czerkawski obtained the dog from Craigslist and set about starving and torturing her --
The two-year-old pit bull only weighed 18-lbs; a dog her age should have weighed about 40-lbs. She was also reportedly was stabbed in the eye, burned (including burns on her nose), had her limbs repeatedly pulled from the joints, left to heal and then pulled back apart, and had her tongue sliced in half like a serpent. It was described as 'medieval' torture.
As well as the burn and stab marks, the dog's vertebrae had been smashed from being hit by a baseball bat or board.
'Her joints were pulled apart like medieval times,' she said. 'She was beaten, stabbed, burned over weeks to months and maybe her whole life. And could not walk.'
Puppy Doe's story received widespread attention, inspiring the dedication of a Puppy Doe memorial bench in Quincy and spurring a new state law with tougher punishments for animal cruelty convictions, the Patriot-Ledger reported.
Quinn, in his statement, praised New Bedford Police Detective Greg Sirois "for his persistence in investigating this case" and also said "the defendant took advantage of the good will of the pastor, who provided him a place to stay."
MEMORIAL BENCH DEDICATION
Earlier:
This repulsive coward should be tortured in prison
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