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| “ | I'm a different man now, Mike. You should be happy, the way I've turned out. | „ |
| ~ Joseph Krolinsky trying to persuade Mike Logan not to arrest him. |
Joseph "Joe" Krolinsky is the main antagonist of the 1995 Law & Order episode "Bad Faith". He is a pedophile and former Catholic priest who molested and raped dozens of young boys over the course of 30 years. Mike Logan, one of the protagonists of the series, was one of his victims.
He is loosely based upon the late James Porter, a former Catholic priest who was convicted in 1993 of sexually abusing hundreds of children.
He was portrayed by Bill Raymond.
Biography
Background
Krolinsky was the parish priest of a working class New York City neighborhood in the late 1960s, and managed the church boy's choir. He sexually abused several boys there, including Mike Logan and his friend Bill Marino. He also manipulated Marino into recruiting other neighborhood boys to "visit" him in return for tickets to baseball games.
Krolinsky was eventually caught abusing a boy named Stuart Waller, but Stuart's devout mother forbade him to say that Krolinsky did anything beyond touch him through his clothes. Krolinsky pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual abuse charge, without prison time, and the church quietly transferred him to another parish, something they did repeatedly over the years as molestation complaints piled up against him with every new assignment.
He retired from the priesthood in 1981, and became a claims adjuster with Dominion Life Insurance. He married and fathered two sons, and eventually started molesting his oldest son.
"Bad Faith"
In 1995, an adult Logan, who had become a homicide detective with the NYPD, investigates what appears to be the murder of Marino, a detective with the NYPD's Sex Crimes bureau. While he and his partner Lennie Briscoe eventually discover that Marino actually committed suicide, they also find that Krolinsky was once again involved in Marino's life; Logan learns from Marino's widow that her husband had been in contact with Krolinsky shortly before he died. Logan soon finds that Marino had been blackmailing Krolinsky, who paid him $50,000 to leave him alone. Logan and Briscoe arrest Krolinsky for child sexual abuse, and Assistant District Attorneys Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid charge him with conspiracy to molest children so they will not be hindered by the statute of limitations, which had long passed.
Krolinsky admits to molesting children as a priest, but claims to have been "cured". His lawyer, meanwhile, says that Marino had been Krolinsky's "pimp", and that the money he had given Marino is a late payment for sending him boys to abuse, and therefore, there is no conspiracy. Logan is also forced to testify about Marino procuring boys for Krolinsky, and it begins to look like Krolinsky will once again escape punishment.
Soon afterward, however, Kincaid discovers that Krolinsky's wife Kate had caught him molesting their son two years earlier and gone to the Department of Children's Services, only to withdraw her complaint the next day after Krolinsky manipulated her into believing he was innocent. McCoy argues that Krolinsky abusing his son extends the life of the conspiracy, meaning that he could be charged with every one of his crimes as if he had just committed them. McCoy threatens Krolinsky with life in prison, and gets him to accept a harsh plea agreement that will put him in prison for at least 15 years.
After Krolinsky is sentenced, Logan confronts him, demanding to know how he could hurt so many children. Krolinsky says nothing as he is led away to begin serving his sentence.
External Links
- Joseph Krolinsky on the Law & Order Wiki
- Joseph Krolinsky on the Antagonists Wiki
