VIRGINIA BRIEFING

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY

Teenager Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Her Father

A Manassas teenager pleaded guilty this week to conspiring with her mother to have her father killed.

Jessenia Blasini, now 18, woke her father early May 23 and asked him to investigate a noise outside, all the while knowing that her boyfriend, Thomas Roy Bennett, was waiting with a baseball bat. According to authorities, her father went outside, where he was hit by Bennett several times in the head but survived.

On Thursday, Blasini pleaded guilty in Prince William County Circuit Court to conspiracy to commit capital murder, solicitation to commit capital murder and malicious wounding. She will be sentenced Jan. 22. Her mother, April Blasini, 36, is scheduled for trial Nov. 25. Bennett, 20, has a Dec. 4 court date.

-- Jonathan Mummolo

LOUISA COUNTY

Ex-Priest Convicted on More Embezzlement Charges

A retired Roman Catholic priest who prosecutors said stole more than $1 million from two rural Virginia churches has been convicted on 10 embezzlement counts.

Jurors needed less than one hour Thursday to convict Rodney Rodis, 52, and said he should serve the maximum of 200 years in prison. Formal sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14.

Rodis is already serving a 63-month federal term for embezzling from his parishioners at St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches. Many of his former flock were unhappy with the federal sentence and sought his prosecution on state charges.

According to testimony at his state trial, Rodis said he stole the money to help his family and others in his native Philippines. But Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas A. Garrett Jr. said that Rodis invested in properties in his native country, including an upscale waterfront property.

Rodis also had a wife and three children, said Rusty McGuire, a deputy prosecutor in Louisa County. He was married in 1987 and lived in Fredericksburg with his family, violating his church vow of celibacy.