Pastor on Leave After L.A. Arrest Involving Drugs

The pastor of Santa Ana’s largest Catholic congregation has taken an indefinite leave of absence after his arrest in Hollywood on suspicion of possessing an illegal drug for sale.

After the May 1 arrest, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file charges against Father Michael Gary Kinzer, 48. A spokesman said police did not have “reasonable cause” to search Kinzer’s car after they stopped him.

Kinzer is the pastor of St. Barbara Church, which has a registered congregation of 2,800 families.

“If a person has been detained without sufficient probable cause, he has to be released,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Unmacht about the decision not to file charges.

Church officials in Orange County said Wednesday that they were aware of Kinzer’s arrest but did not acknowledge that Kinzer was involved in any wrongdoing. Diocese spokesman the Rev. Lawrence Baird said only that Kinzer followed his doctor’s advice after the incident and took an indefinite “rest sabbatical.”

Baird called Kinzer’s arrest “regrettable.”

“Obviously, the diocese is going to take all steps available that would give medical and spiritual assistance to one of its priests,” Baird said.

He said that Kinzer was unavailable for comment and he would not disclose Kinzer’s whereabouts.

Los Angeles Police Cmdr. William Booth provided the following account of the incident:

Police officers saw a white 1989 Ford Escort pull up to the intersection of St. Andrews Place and Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles about 10 p.m. on May 1. Other vehicles were delayed and had to honk their horns for Kinzer to move out of the lane. Kinzer moved, but pulled up near a fire hydrant.

Police pulled up behind Kinzer’s car and asked him for his driver’s license. Kinzer, who was wearing non-clerical clothes, replied that he had it in a traveling bag in the back seat, according to Booth. Fearing that there might be a weapon in the bag, officers said they asked to search the bag.

They found a makeup mirror, several 2 1/2-inch straws, a razor blade, five plastic bags containing white powder and $3,600 in cash. Police arrested Kinzer on suspicion of possession of cocaine for sale. He was held overnight on $5,000 bail. A passenger was released.

Booth said police presented the case to the district attorney’s office the day after Kinzer’s arrest, but officials there decided that “the admissibility of the search and seizure would not . . . support a conviction.”

Laboratory tests revealed Monday that the substance seized from Kinzer’s car was powdered methamphetamine, which is “also a violation, a deadly and a highly addictive material,” Booth said.

Armed with results of the tests, police asked the district attorney’s office on Tuesday to review its decision not to charge Kinzer. But the district attorney maintained that it was not a case that could go to court, Booth said.

“It would have been prosecuted if the police had seen the drug in plain view when they stopped him,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Unmacht said. “We would be treading on dangerous ground otherwise. . . .”

Diocese spokesman Baird said that the Rev. Ed Poettgen, associate pastor of St. Barbara Church, has temporarily replaced Kinzer as pastor there.

Parishioners expressed surprise and shock Wednesday at learning of the arrest and Kinzer’s replacement.

“I never expected anything like this,” said Bill Reppally, director of the Eucharistic ministers at the church. “He is a very good priest, excellent.”

“In a hypothetical situation, no matter who the person is, the epidemic of drugs doesn’t have any respect for sex or creed, or . . . a person’s position or office,” Baird said. “The priest is himself the model for the community. . . . Of course, the flock has to be hurt when their shepherd shows them he might himself fall on the way.”

Kinzer served for four years as associate pastor of St. Irenaeus Church in Cypress before becoming associate director and later director of the Office for Permanent Deaconate at diocese headquarters. He was named pastor of St. Barbara Church in 1988.