Does not have to go to prison

Pastor tried to cook meth – out of love …

(Bild: Rawpixel Ltd., stock.adobe.com (Symbolbild))

At the end of July 2024, all the ingredients and equipment for cooking crystal meth were found in a parish apartment in Lower Austria. The main culprit: the parish priest. In Krems Regional Court, the 39-year-old Pole now cites love as his motive: "I now know that I'm gay." He no longer has to go to prison.

"He had a spiritual crisis. He no longer felt at home in the church," said defense lawyer Astrid Wagner, explaining why a Lower Austrian priest set up a drug lab in his official apartment. Dressed in a smart, dark suit, the theologian now sits in Krems provincial court - there is little left of his time as a clergyman. 

"It was all just theater"
The 39-year-old had completely broken away from the Catholic Church: "I was in an unbelievable life crisis at the time. It was the end of the world. I was loved by the church and praised again and again, but that depressed me. It was all just theater, what I was doing," he says about his time as a pastor. He confesses: "I now know that I'm gay. I felt totally lonely. I really wanted to leave the church quickly."

I wanted to save a bit of money for an apartment in Vienna where I could live with the second defendant.

Ex-Pfarrer verliebte sich in 29-Jährigen, errichtete deswegen Drogenlabor

In 2023, the Pole then met the second defendant - he skipped the trial - and fell in love with the 29-year-old. The then clergyman began taking narcotics with him, mainly methamphetamine. "We all know that these drugs are very expensive on the black market," explains the theologian Frau Rat. Money ran out at some point, so last summer they came up with the idea of cooking the crystal meth themselves. The ingredients were quickly procured. Together with his lover and two other men, they tried their luck in the parish apartment, just like in the well-known American series "Breaking Bad". 

Ingredients for a kilo of crystal meth procured
But not quite as successful: due to faulty instructions, the drug cooks failed to produce usable methamphetamine. During a raid at the end of July 2024 at the vicarage in question, the ex-priest was discovered - the drug precursors and laboratory equipment were seized. According to the prosecution, this would have been suitable for producing a kilo of crystal meth. "But I didn't believe that," said the 39-year-old in court, who also spent several weeks in custody.

Lawyer Astrid Wagner defended the former clergyman.(Bild: Groh Klemens)

Now, however, the Pole has found his way back to the right path - but not in the service of God. He now lives in Vienna-Favoriten and works as an insurance consultant. Defence lawyer Astrid Wagner emphasizes: "He is still a very spiritual person."

Despite the remorseful confessions of all the defendants, diversion is out of the question: "After all, they wanted to produce a kilo of crystal meth," explains Ms. Rat. Although this attempt was legally completely unsuitable, the possession, importation and similar of drug precursors is just as punishable. The drug priest was therefore sentenced to 22 months in prison - three of which were fixed. However, he had already served these in pre-trial detention.

The two co-defendants were sentenced to 15 months, three of which were also spent in prison, and six months conditional imprisonment respectively. The sentences are not final.