A Filipino priest, Father Ysrael Bien from Oregon is currently under investigation as he got involved to a church restroom scandal. He has been placed on leave due to the following allegations pointing him as the one who planted a hidden camera in his church's men's room. The allegations got even stronger as he lied to parishioners and police about the spy camera that he allegedly planted.
The scandal was exposed as a 15-year-old boy found a hidden camera in the church men's room, The boy found the camera at St. Francis Catholic Church and turned it over to the Filipino priest, Bien. The camera was hidden inside an electrical outlet in a toilet stall. The boy thought it was unusual place for an outlet to be installed waist high and upon discovering it was actually a camera. Police believes that Bien is behind all this. It was theorized that Bien either installed the device or he was merely helping whoever is actually responsible for the scandalous act. After knowing what happened, search warrants were issued for the church. Of course, Bien's car, home, and electronic devices were also checked for further evidences.
What made the police and the people be more suspicious about Bien's intentions was due to him allegedly lying to church officials, police, and the child's parents about his actions following the discovery of the hidden camera. The boy's parents claimed that the priest told them he had contacted police and fabricated a story about a supposedly unfruitful police investigation.
"Sherwood police did not have enough to go with from the device, Two sets of fingerprints were found: mine and, by process of elimination, (your son's). ... They were hoping to find a third set of fingerprints to lead them to the perpetrator. But there was none. Not surprising because they said it is consistent with the modus operandi of the person they have in mind." -Father Ysrael Bien to the boy's parents over Facebook
The Oregonian reports Bien maintained his story, blaming an imaginary suspect, claiming "The device – same style and model – is 'affiliated' with this person. Unfortunately, these are 'circumstantial'. Because of insufficient and inconclusive evidence, they are not able to place the person they have in mind in our church bathroom."The priest claimed that police still hoped to catch the alleged "perpetrator" thanks to a separate investigation in an attempt to mollify the boy's parents. In actuality, Bien never let police know about the camera nor had he told church authorities.After learning Bien had not informed church leaders about the camera's discovery, and suspicious of the priest's elaborate and nonsensical story, the boy's father contacted the church deacon and asked for a copy of the police report on the incident. Together, they confronted Bien and he confessed he hadn't gone to the police as he had previously stated. - Advocate
Bien allegedly fabricated a new story. This time, he claimed that the camera was stolen from the drawer where he had placed it. Also. he didn't contact the local authorities because he was scared of "the consequences of losing the device,". He even claimed that there's no memory card in the said device but the police firmly believes that the Filipino priest just either removed the card or the device was set to record photos onto another device such as computer or laptop.
With the current investigation regarding Father Bien's alleged involvement to this scandal, social media citizens and other LGBT supporters/groups cannot help but bash the priest as it is known that Father Bien is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage since ordination and the scandal that he is now being linked to is kind of ironic in a way.