A priest accused of stalking Conan O’Brien and calling himself one of the talk show host’s “most dangerous fans” pleaded guilty Tuesday to disorderly conduct.
The Rev. David Ajemian, 46, admitted in Manhattan Criminal Court that he sent letters and DVDs to O’Brien’s home and office as well as sending mail to the home of O’Brien’s parents. The Boston priest said he never meant to cause anxiety or to upset anyone.
Judge Rita Mella ordered Ajemian to pay a $95 court charge and signed a two-year order of protection directing him to stay away from O’Brien.
The Roman Catholic priest was arrested in November 2007 while trying to enter the building where NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” is taped, despite being warned to stay away by the network’s security personnel.
A judge recently found Ajemian fit to stand trial despite claims of psychiatric issues.
In a letter to security officials at O’Brien’s network, Ajemian called himself “a stalker of a very different order than the kind you are used to dealing with.”
“Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans???” he wrote to O’Brien after flying to New York and trying in vain to get a spot in the host’s audience. “You owe me big-time, pal.”
Ajemian also told O’Brien he knew where he lived and wrote, “Remember (mobster) Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you.”
As he left court Tuesday, Ajemian said he planned to return to the Archdiocese of Boston and hoped to return to ministry duties.
“I recognize that what I did was disorderly, and I’m glad the people of New York have accepted that,” Ajemian said.
Ajemian, who was accused of writing to O’Brien beginning in September 2006, has been placed on leave by the Boston archdiocese. The archdiocese said Tuesday that he remained on administrative leave, and it declined to provide further details.
Ajemian, the son of former Time magazine journalist Robert Ajemian, attended Harvard University at the same time as O’Brien, but it is unclear whether the two crossed paths there.