A Roman Catholic priest who once served in Sonoma County waived extradition proceedings in Chicago yesterday and agreed to return to California, where he faces 17 counts of child molestation.

The Rev. Gary Timmons was arrested Tuesday night at his home in Chicago by local police and Sonoma County Sheriff's Detective Roy Gourley.

Timmons, 55, is being held in Chicago on $750,000 bail. He is expected to be returned to Santa Rosa in the next few days, according to Sonoma County sheriff's Lieutenant Mike Brown.

Brown said Timmons faces felony counts involving ``various sex crimes,'' including lewd and lascivious acts, oral copulation, and sodomy, all with children under 14.

Brown said the arrest was based on complaints from three men who said Timmons molested them as minors. The acts, Brown said, took place at church camps and in the rectory of St. Eugene's Church in Santa Rosa. Timmons was the founder and counselor at Camp St. Michael in Mendocino County and was, most recently, pastor of St. Bernard's Church in Eureka.

Timmons was relieved of his church duties nearly two years ago and sent to work and study at Chicago's Institute for Spiritual Leadership. A woman who answered the phone there yesterday declined to discuss Timmons' case or to say whether he is still affiliated with the institute.

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