A series of heartfelt letters convinced a Bronx priest to break an agonizing 12-year silence and tell of a teen’s confession that could clear two men long imprisoned for murder.
The letters, obtained by The Post, show how Father Joseph Towle and inmate Ruben Montalvo struggled to do justice without betraying what the priest was told in confidence.
For 12 years, Towle remained silent about a conversation he had with Jesus Fornes, a gang member who admitted to the priest that he and two others killed José Rivera in 1987.
Fornes told “Father Joe” that he, Peter Ramirez and Ramirez’s uncle Carlos Ocasio killed Rivera in a park, and that the two men convicted of the crime, Montalvo and José Morales, were innocent.
Believing the conversation confidential, Towle kept quiet, but wrote to Montalvo in 1995: “I have thought about you many, many times these long years you have been in prison.
“You have been sent to jail for something I know you did not do,” he wrote. “It is just like Jesus Christ, who was innocent and still was put to death . . . God knows you did not do the thing you are accused of.”
The two-page letter must have seemed like manna from heaven to Montalvo.
“Given your offer of assistance and the fact that you have personal knowledge that [Morales] and I am innocent of the crime, I was hoping you would help me to get my motion in court,” the prisoner wrote.
Towle wrote back, offering to help as much as church law would allow.
“I will help you in any way I can that does not oblige me to speak of things I know only in confidence as a priest,” he said.
After the exchange, even Montalvo seemed to struggle with the priest’s restrictions.
“I know you know what happened, and if it wasn’t shared with you under the cloak of the Priesthood, I’m . . . hoping you’d be willing to share it with a court so I can try to get my life back on track,” he wrote.
Despite the intense exchange, the priest still struggled to decide. Eventually, he got the go-ahead from church officials to approach authorities.
He testified about Fornes’ confession in Manhattan federal court Monday, and Judge Denny Chin is expected to decide on the appeal by July 27.
At the middle school for boys he runs in Hunts Point, Towle defended his decision.
“All these years, I’ve just been praying for the boys and Jesus Fornes and for the other boys involved in the murder,” he said in a calm but tired voice.
Despite the “great pain” he carried, he felt a moral obligation to stay quiet while Fornes was alive “because he would never expect me to do anything to his harm or detriment.”
After Fornes was killed in 1997, the priest decided Fornes would want him to help exonerate Montalvo and Morales.
He said he waited until a new appeal in the case had been filed – another four years – to tell his story.
Asked whether he would handle the dilemma the same way now, Towle said: “I’d pretty much have to do it in the same way . . . I felt clear about my decision all the way through.”
One woman who wishes the confession had come to light earlier is Rosa Lorenzi, the mother of Ramirez – who killed himself playing Russian roulette just before Montalvo’s and Morales’ trial.
Ramirez, the leader of the “Wolf Pack” gang, told his mother and his lawyer he was seeking blood revenge for an earlier knifing when he and Fornes attacked Rivera.
“I always prayed someone would do something,” she said. “I knew my son was guilty. He even confessed to me.”
Judge Bonnie Wittner barred the jury from hearing of Ramirez’s admission, and Montalvo and Morales were convicted.
Stricken with guilt, Fornes confessed to Towle and Montalvo’s lawyer, who went to the court. But during a hearing, on the advice of his lawyer, Fornes refused to answer questions.
The DA’s office had also tried to keep Fornes’ confession out of the case.
“The prosecutors were so wedded to the idea that these two guys were guilty that they didn’t want to stop and consider that they might not be the ones,” said Stanley Cohen, Fornes’ former lawyer.
Morales’ current lawyer, Jeffrey Pittell, added: “The DA opposed every attempt to submit the confession as evidence. I can only surmise they didn’t take it seriously.”
In court on Monday, prosecutors stood by the convictions, stressing that the victim’s wife and his son had fingered Montalvo and Morales.
Ocasio is believed to have fled to Puerto Rico after the crime.