Phoney Ex Jesuit

TradeMe vendor admits priest lie

By AMY MILNE

The Southland Times

Tuesday, 22 July 2008
A Mataura man who claimed he was an ex-Jesuit priest, to enhance the worth of Catholic memorabilia he was selling on TradeMe, has confessed he told a "porky" about his religious career. Invalid beneficiary Bruce Gotobed, 46, has been a TradeMe member since January 2003 and regularly contributed to the site's message board (chatroom).

In November Mr Gotobed sold Auckland woman Allison Doody a pectoral cross that he claimed was made by the papal tailors in Rome.

Before buying the cross, traders including Mrs Doody posted questions on the site asking for proof of the cross' origin. Mr Gotobed replied that he was an "ex-Jesuit priest" and was a "clerk for Cardinal Ratzinger" when he was prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. In his reply he says he did not have a certificate of authenticity because asking a friend proof of a gift given was "hardly the thing to do" .

He said it was given to him in 1983 before the cardinal's election to Pope. Mrs Doody won the auction and paid $1000 for the cross.

However, she became suspicious about Mr Gotobed last week when other traders raised questions about "mendlesmanor' (Mr Gotobed's TradeMe name) and accused him of being a fraud, she said. Posts were later put on the message board under mendlesmanor's name but the writers claimed to be Mr Gotobed's wife "Toni" and also his brother "Tony". The messages say Mr Gotobed had a massive stroke and was in a coma because of all the stress of the claims that had been made. Mrs Doody said "Toni" wrote in exactly the same style as Mr Gotobed, with random capital letters and poor grammar. She said she later discovered "Toni" was a man called Noho Tony Taitok, who was Mr Gotobed's live-in partner.

Mrs Doody then checked the United States online trading site e-Bay and found what appeared to be the same cross she had bought. "It's for sale with a bid of $26 on it. It's exactly the same. It used exactly the same photos that he (Mr Gotobed) used in his auction."

Mrs Doody said she e-mailed Mr Gotobed, demanding a refund. Mr Gotobed was first confronted about the alleged fraud claims at his Mataura home on Sunday but his partner said he was too ill to talk.

Yesterday, he confessed he was not an ex-Jesuit priest but was a former Franciscan monk and that he'd bought the cross off e-Bay.

He said he had told a porky that he was an ex-Jesuit priest. "It was a stupid mistake. I don't know what I was thinking. My thought patterns at times are quite wonky. I say things sometimes and think `why the hell did I say that'." He blamed this on the medication he took for his bowel cancer, brain tumour and congenital kidney diseases. Mr Gotobed has agreed to refund Mrs Doody her money. "The cross itself and the cord are genuine items. It's just the provenance of it that was wonky. That's why I will be refunding her." Mrs Doody said if she did not receive the money she would lay a complaint with police. She has agreed to return the cross. Mr Gotobed said he planned to keep it. Trade Me trust and safety manager Dean Winter said the company had restricted Mr Gotobed's membership and would respond to any complaints as they were received. While it appeared the member had lied about his background, it did not indicate any intent to defraud, Mr Winter said. Trade Me had not received any official complaints but would be contacting Mr Gotobed and Mrs Doody to ensure the matter had been resolved, he said.

Father Anthony Malone, a former superior of the Franciscan friars in Auckland, said Mr Gotobed was never a monk but he did begin training to be a friar in the 1980s.

Fr Malone said it took about seven years before a trainee could be ordained as a friar. He said Mr Gotobed was asked to leave after only six months into his first year of training because his health was deemed to be too poorly. When asked if he had any knowledge of Mr Gotobed becoming a Jesuit priest, Fr Malone laughed and said it was very unlikely. Mr Gotobed said the claim he was an ex-Jesuit priest had come about after he had told media in a previous interview about a lock of Princess Diana's hair, which he tried to sell on TradeMe last year.

However, when the story went to publication, "Franciscan monk" had been changed to "a former Jesuit priest",

he said. Mr Gotobed said he had posted the threads pretending to be his wife "Toni and also his brother Tony as a way out". But this only fuelled what he called a witch-hunt. He said he would not be trading on TradeMe for some time.

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