Fox6: Benet Lake Benedictine monk charged with attempted child abduction

A judge has set bail at $50,000 for a Benedictine monk from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch, Illinois.

Police arrested 57-year-old Thomas Chmura[ummmm, any relation?] on Friday, April 26th after seeing him stop his car in the middle of traffic to talk to three women on the sidewalk.

Police say Chmura was driving next to the girl on Thursday night when he asked her to get into his car. After his arrest, officers say Chmura admitted he approached the girl for purposes of sexual gratification.

Tayia Watson says she is good friends with the victim, who came to her right after the attempted abduction.

“She came to my house and she told me that some guy that she saw pass her like three or four times a day or two before tried hitting on her. She was like ‘well he finally came up to me and asked me to take me home’ and she’s like ‘oh you look really pretty today, you want me to take you home baby,’” Watson said.

Now, Chmura has been charged with one count of child abduction (attempted) — a Class 4 Felony, and one count of disorderly conduct.

Chmura, a member of the Benedictine religious order, resides at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wisconsin. The abbey, located within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, runs a retreat center that also offers its services to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago due to its proximity to the state of Illinois. The order states that the retreat house has “been the site for many individuals and groups to find a path closer to God”.

continue at Fox6

If the word crazy were personified, I think it would alot like this guy.