Father Ryan Duffy is a priest who was suspected of the rapes of adulterous women committed by fellow priest John Regis.
History[]
Duffy was approached by an old friend, Dominick Carisi, Jr., at the church about an important event. Carisi told Duffy that he saw a woman named Audrey O'Neill acting weird when walking out of the church. While Duffy couldn't tell Carisi that she came in for a confession, he did say it wouldn't hurt to reach out to old friends. When Carisi realized that Audrey had told either Duffy or Father John Regis about leaving her door open for her boyfriend, they started to suspect that Duffy and Regis would use that specific detail to attack women. Benson had Detective Mia Ruz go undercover as a woman confessing to Duffy about committing adultery.
Ruz gave Duffy an address of where she would be which is the art gallery. Ruz and Tutuola then went into the art gallery to trap their rapist. When they yelled at the rapist to put his hands up, Duffy took off his hoodie and was placed under arrest for rape. While he was under arrest, Carisi and Duffy got into an argument and Duffy was interrogated by Velasco and Tutuola. Duffy refused to tell them anything from anyone's confessions even if it meant going to prison himself.
Duffy was released from interrogation and the squad started to suspect Regis of committing the rapes. Carisi approached Duffy and managed to persuade him to go against Regis in a way that did not compromise his vows. Duffy told Carisi that besides him, Regis confided in his deceased mother. Tutuola and Velasco managed to trap Regis speaking to his deceased mother at her gravestone and confessing to the rapes. Carisi notified Duffy of Regis' arrest and thanked Duffy for helping them. His name cleared, Duffy revealed that the church officially disavowed Regis for his crimes, but Duffy was still praying for him. (SVU: "Confess Your Sins to Be Free")