Anglican Watch (AW) previously covered issues with Robbie Giannetta, the head of security for St. Thomas’ Fifth Avenue, and his company, Blue Perimeter, LLC. These issues included hiring convicted felon and drug dealer Tristan Rodas as an unlicensed security guard for the church.
So, after seeing Giannetta working the entrance to St. Thomas’ during recent Sunday services, we’re puzzled. Why is Giannetta still around? And why is Blue Perimeter still providing security to the church?
More on Rodas
Rodas has a lengthy and sordid criminal history that goes back to his high school days. Included in that history are charges relating to selling heroin to minors, using a minor in the commission of a felony, weapons charges, and more.
Tellingly, some of these charges were filed while Rodas was working at St. Thomas, where we believe Blue Perimeter was paying him under the table. Per the screen cap below, on October 2, 2024, Rodas was charged for the seventh time for drug possession. Additionally, he was charged for illegally possessing weapons. That’s particularly important, as it was during the time Rodas was working at St. Thomas’.
Even worse, we are confident that recent death threats against individuals connected with St. Thomas came from Rodas. Similarly, we strongly believe that threats and anti-Semitic hatred recently directed at this publication came from Giannetta.
A betrayal of trust
In other words, Giannetta and the St. Thomas staff, wardens and vestry all betrayed the trust of parishioners. Church funds were used not just to hire someone unable to provide meaningful security to parishioners and the physical plant, but to hire someone who was, himself, a major security risk.
Yet on a recent Sunday, we spotted Giannetta himself working the entrance to the church prior to Sunday services.
Thus, we’re left asking: After this egregious betrayal of trust, why would anyone in their right mind trust Giannetta or Blue Perimeter Security? Both should be barred from the property immediately for posing a security threat to the church. Not to mention we’re pretty sure that hiring a convicted felon as a church security guard is, at best, a breach of the contract between Blue Perimeter and St. Thomas.
Indeed, under New York law, convicted felons cannot work as security guards. Doesn’t that tell folks at St. Thomas’ anything?
More on Schultz
While we’re on the topic, we’re going to return to the continuing presence of the Rev. Mark Schultz at St. Thomas. (Otherwise known to AW staff none too fondly as the Groping Guru.) Specifically, while it increasingly looks like the district attorney won’t charge Schultz, he still faces Title IV clergy disciplinary charges over sexual assault.
Thus, we’ve said it before and we will say it again: It is an egregious betrayal of the Baptismal Covenant and the trust of parishioners and students at the St, Thomas Choir School to have the Groping Guru preaching at services. Schultz has serious boundary issues, and nothing the Diocese has done to address these issues is close to adequate.
To be clear: Sexual assault must be treated as a zero-tolerance offense, whether or not criminal charges result.
Clergy are always responsible for maintaining boundaries. Full stop, no excuses, no exceptions, no explanations.
Relatedly, Schultz’s husband, St. Thomas resident pornographer Erich Erving, needs to go. There is no excuse to have someone producing pornography while living in church-owned housing, especially when that housing is in the midst of housing for Choir School Students.
It is time for St. Thomas to clean up its act.
Leave a Reply