By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

An innocent man was set free from prison after a New Jersey woman, who confessed to a priest that she had falsely accused him of rape, was told that her penance was to get a lawyer and see that the man was set free.

The New York Post is reporting that Biurny Pequero Gonzalez, 27, admitted to Rev. Zeljko Guberovic of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Union City last year that she had falsely accused William McCaffrey, 33, of violent sexual assault in 2005. She said she had been haunted by guilt and had trouble sleeping ever since.

Gonzalez’s lawyer, Paul Callan, said Fr. Guberovic told his client “The only way you can make this right is to get a lawyer and get this man out of jail.”

She agreed even though that meant turning herself into authorities who eventually sentenced her to one to three years in prison for making a false accusation. 
 
“It took enormous courage to turn herself in,” Callan told The Post. “It was something that was spiritually motivated. She had nothing to gain and everything to lose.”

At the time of her recantation, McCaffrey had already served four years of a 20 year sentence.

“She’s the hero, not me,” Fr. Guberovic told The Post.

Some members of his parish are questioning whether he acted appropriately and the Newark Archdiocese has reportedly “reminded” him that he is not to reveal the contents of any confession.

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