The longtime rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in North Jackson, Ohio, has been stripped of his ministerial duties after his arrest in a public indecency case at a Warren city park. Chorbishop Anthony Spinosa, 75, was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on August 13 following an incident that Warren police say occurred in broad daylight near an active children's playground.
Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles issued a formal letter on August 18 relieving Spinosa from his duties with immediate effect and naming Rev. Michael Shami as temporary administrator of the shrine, according to the Tribune Chronicle. Spinosa had served as rector of the shrine since 2002, a tenure of more than two decades that made him one of the most prominent figures in the Maronite Catholic Church in the United States.
Dispatch logs show Warren police officers were sent to Perkins Park at approximately 5:40 p.m. on July 31 after a couple walking their dog reported seeing two men engaged in sexual activity near the park's baseball fields, as reported by coastalabc.com. The couple alleged they had observed 54-year-old Kenneth Kopp performing a sex act on Spinosa, and a witness maintained that account to police. The incident is said to have taken place about 100 yards from a playground where children were present.
What Officers Found at the Scene
Police reported finding Spinosa smoking a cigar in a black SUV, while Kopp was located nearby inside a Honda Civic parked next to a black rug and pink boots. According to the Warren police report, Kopp was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with black boxers and had grass and dirt on his bottom when officers questioned him, and he denied that anything was going on.
Kopp told officers he believed he had been reported because he liked to dress in women's clothing, per the same account. A search of the Honda Civic turned up multiple wigs, silicone breasts, rubberized handcuffs, and three pipes often used to smoke methamphetamine, prompting an additional drug paraphernalia charge against Kopp. One of the suspects allegedly invited the couple to join or watch the encounter in exchange for payment.
A Sex Offender's Past Conviction
Kopp is a registered Tier III sex offender, Ohio's most stringent offender classification, which mandates lifetime in-person address registration every 90 days with local county sheriffs. That status stems from a 2011 case in which Kopp pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a juvenile female and was sentenced to ten years in prison, according to InfoVaticana. Tier III designation is reserved in Ohio for offenders convicted of the most severe sexual offenses.
Spinosa was initially allowed to leave Perkins Park on the day of the incident after denying he knew Kopp or had been with him, and officers told him he was free to go. It was not until municipal prosecutors evaluated witness statements and issued an arrest warrant on August 3 that Spinosa was formally booked into jail ten days later, InfoVaticana reports. He was released after posting a $2,000 bond and was ordered to stay away from Perkins Park.
Charges and the Path Through Court
Both men have pleaded not guilty to public indecency and procuring. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.23, procuring is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying a maximum of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to the Wieczorek Law Firm. Public indecency under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.09 is typically a fourth-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days, though the Joslyn Law Firm notes that charges can be elevated when the conduct occurs near minors or public parks.
Defense attorney Jeffery Goodman, who represents Spinosa, has formally requested that prosecutors turn over all state evidence, including any available video footage, ahead of the defendants' next court date. Both Spinosa and Kopp are scheduled to appear in Warren Municipal Court on September 14, according to the Vindicator.
A Prominent Church Post, Now Vacant
Spinosa held the title of Chorbishop, a senior ecclesiastical rank directly below a diocesan bishop, bestowed on him in August 2016, exactly ten years before his booking into the Trumbull County Jail. Maronite Catholics are an Eastern Rite Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, and the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon has served since the 1960s as the major national Marian shrine and pilgrimage site for Maronite Catholics across the country, a landmark in the Youngstown-Warren region.
With Spinosa now removed from ministry and Rev. Michael Shami installed as temporary administrator, the shrine's leadership transition unfolds even as the criminal case against its former rector remains unresolved. Prosecutors have not yet presented evidence in open court, and both defendants continue to maintain their innocence ahead of next month's hearing.
