SALT LAKE CITY — A prostitution case against a Catholic priest in Salt Lake City has been resolved after he pleaded no contest, took an HIV test and paid a $680 fine.
The Rev. Andrzej Pawel Skrzypiec, pastor of Saint Ambrose Catholic Church, was charged in September with patronizing a prostitute, a class A misdemeanor. Police arrested him in a larger prostitution sting.
The case was resolved last week. Under the terms of his plea in abeyance, the reverend pleaded no contest to the charge. The judge dismissed it after the 63-year-old Skrzypiec took the test and paid the fine, court documents show.
Skrzypiec, also the pastoral administrator at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School, was placed on a three-month administrative leave after he was charged. He remains on leave and a decision about his future has not yet been made, according to Jean Hill of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.
The Rev. Skrzypiec began leading the St. Ambrose parish, 2315 Redondo Ave., in 2009. He was criminally charged Sept. 24 after agreeing to pay an undercover officer $30 for a sex act in a parking lot at 200 North and 900 West, according to charging documents.
As part of his plea, he admitted that he "did pay or offer to pay a fee for a sex act in Salt Lake County," court documents show. In an interview with police after his arrest, Skrzypiec denied making a sex deal and allegedly said he was there to get tacos.
Father Joshua Santos has been filling in as a temporary administrator of the parish and as chaplain of the Cosgriff school.