Port Orchard Minister Given 20-Year Term

PORT ORCHARD - A Port Orchard minister who kidnapped and sexually abused his 9-year-old granddaughter was sentenced today to more than 20 years in prison.

Kitsap County Superior Court Judge James Roper gave Frederick Aylward 2 1/2 years more than the prosecution had recommended in a plea agreement. The sentence was 245 months.

Aylward, 51, pleaded guilty Monday in Kitsap County Superior Court to kidnapping, molesting and raping his granddaughter.

Prosecutor Dan Clem recommended a sentence of 17 years and nine months, which he said would amount to a life term for the 375-pound Aylward, who has a heart condition and diabetes.

Clem said he read a note from the girl in court in which she said she didn't want Aylward to hurt anyone else. The girl's mother, Bambi Patrick, also told the judge she wanted Aylward to die in prison.

Aylward took his daughter's child Dec. 29 without permission. He staged a car accident and fled the state with the girl, promising her a trip to Disneyland.

He was arrested two days later in Cerritos, Calif., where authorities traced him via credit-card charges.

The child subsequently told her mother Aylward had made numerous sexual advances toward her over the past two years.

Attorneys for both sides said the tide shifted against Aylward last Friday when Judge James Roper ruled he would allow prosecutors to present evidence showing Aylward's molestation of his granddaughter wasn't his first. In fact, it bore a striking resemblance to the relationship he had 16 years ago with a girl in Orange County, Fla.

According to court documents, the alleged victims were similar in age, had reason to trust Aylward, were "groomed" with gifts and kindness, and then sexually abused over a period of years.

Clem said both girls were abducted with promises of going to Disneyland and then Hawaii. And in both cases, Aylward created phony identification and court documents saying he had custody of the girls.

Prosecutors said the earlier alleged victim, now 27, was willing to testify had the granddaughter's case gone to trial. An abduction charge in that earlier case was dropped when the girl refused to testify. Aylward soon afterward served seven years in an Arizona prison for insurance fraud against elderly people.

On Monday, his attorney, Zenon Olbertz, said Aylward is very sorry and is having a difficult time explaining what he did.

Clem said the plea agreement spared the girl the trauma of testifying.

Aylward and his third wife, who is now filing for divorce, founded St. Margaret of Castello Orthodox Catholic Church in Port Orchard. It is affiliated with the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America and not with the Roman Catholic church.

Aylward is a Bremerton native.