Conan O’Brien stalker stripped of priesthood

PEABODY – A priest with local ties has been told he can no longer function as a priest.The Rev. David Ajemian, who served at St. John the Baptist Church in Peabody, pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct after admitting he sent letters and DVDs to Conan O’Brien, a late night TV host on NBC. In one of the letters, he called himself one of O’Brien’s “most dangerous fan.”Ajemian was arrested Nov. 2, 2007 and after his guilty plea he was told by Cardinal Sean O’Malley to remain indefinitely at an unidentified residential treatment facility. According to the Boston Archdiocese, Ajemian checked himself out of the facility on Thursday against O’Malley’s wishes. In a press release, the Boston Archdiocese said it was a violation of his priestly vows to disobey O’Malley and Ajemian can no longer function as a priest.Ajemian, who was assigned to St. John the Baptist Church in Peabody, was one of several local priests profiled by The Daily Item in a special series that ran in June 2002.During his interviews with The Daily Item, Ajemian said he was raised by casually-religious Episcopalian parents and he was not a religious man when he attended Harvard University.”I was not religious at all,” he said in the 2002 interview. “I saw myself as a 1960s liberal type person? I saw myself as opposed to the church and its agenda.”After graduating from college, Ajemian worked a series of odd jobs. He said he found himself when he was 30 years old in a film class he was taking at Harvard University. Ajemian said he was watching “La Dolce Vita,” which chronicles the fictitious lives of the rich and famous in Italy.”In that darkened room I had a revelation,” he said in 2002. “I felt that at that actual moment God was speaking to me. There was one moment in the movie when they referred to the resurrection and it hit me. This is really true. Jesus did rise from the dead.”Ajemian said he converted to Catholicism on Easter Sunday in 1995 after spending months “shopping around” for other faiths. He was ordained as a priest in May 2001 at St. John the Baptist Church in Peabody.According to court documents, Ajemian told police he wanted to be famous and sent letters to O’Brien’s home and to 30 Rockerfeller Plaza from September 2006 through Nov. 2, 2007. According to the complaint, Ajemian sent a letter on April 26, 2007 that he signed “Padre” in which he wrote “And remember Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you.” The letter continued by saying “John McEnroe, a fellow student with me once upon a time at Trinity School in Manhattan, assaulted me once in seventh grade when I wouldn’t give up my seat to him.”In another letter, Ajemian referenced a trip to New York to see O’Brien’s show.”This is your priest stalker again, the one who has been tracking you through space and time,” he wrote. “I’m told by some officious little usher people that you’re overbooked and to get the *** off the premises! Is this the way that you treat your most dangerous fan???”St. John the Baptist confirmed Ajemian was ordained there but declined to comment further.