Bashara bounced from Macomb church festival
Posted: 05/21/12 09:46 pm
By Mitch Hotts
mitch.hotts@macombdaily.com
Murder suspect Bob Bashara inexplicably showed up at a Macomb County church festival over the weekend where he volunteered to work before he was asked to leave the premises, according to witnesses and the church pastor.
Bashara showed up at the annual St. Joan of Arc Spring Festival in St. Clair Shores on Friday and Saturday, offering to work at the Vegas tent and a food booth. Someone allowed him to briefly work as a dealer in the Vegas tent until Monsignor G. Michael Bugarin was notified and asked him to leave.
“I am not really sure why he was here because he’s not a member of our church, I checked on that,” Bugarin said.
Bugarin said once Bashara made his presence known, word spread around the church campus during the festival on Friday and Saturday, and the buzz eventually reached him.
“Some people felt uncomfortable about the conversation he was making about wanting to help people out and his continued presence,” Bugarin said. “When his actions were brought to my attention, I took action. And I asked him to leave.”
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Many in the crowd at the spring festival instantly recognized him because his face has been on television news reports and in newspaper reports for the past four months, said one worker at the event.
“He was even wearing a name tag but we don’t know where he got it,” said a festival volunteer who did not want to be identified. “He was acting like he belonged there, like he was a regular, and I don’t think people liked that. As Christians, we are taught to be forgiving and accepting, but with someone who has a reputation like his, we have to be careful and watch out for shenanigans.’
Bashara’s legal team could not be reached for comment on Monday.
His appearance at the St. Joan event coincided with a television appearance by Rachel Gillett, his former mistress, who was interviewed Sunday night on WDIV-TV (Channel 4).
In her first public comment on the case, Gillett said she met Bashara online where he indicated he was widowed and raising a teenage daughter by himself. Bashara, who has two adult children, later told Gillett that he was married to Jane Bashara but had divorced her.
“In retrospect, I realized he lied to me and manipulated me and now I find myself in a position that I never imagined I would be,” she told the TV station, which also reported she has moved out of Michigan to start a new life.
WDIV also reported that Christina Utley, a former prosecutor in Cook County, Ill., has joined attorney David Griem on the Bashara defense team.
Bashara’s appearance at the St. Joan festival wasn’t the only topic of conversation in the church community...
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