$300k parish theft calls for better monitoring, expert says

Undisclosed accounts are ‘red flags’ for parish theft. Here’s why

After a priest pled guilty this month to stealing from his Missouri parish, an expert on clerical financial crimes said dioceses should watch carefully for undisclosed parish bank accounts — a common feature in theft from Catholic parishes and schools.

Cathedral of St. Joseph, Jefferson City, Missouri. Credit: Farragutful/Wikimedia. CC BY SA 4.0

Fr. Ignazio Medina pled guilty July 9 of stealing $300,000 from the Wardsville, Missouri parish where he was pastor from 2013 until 2021. 

The priest admitted to writing a $100,000 check to his sister from a parish bank account, along with a $200,000 check he made out to himself. 

Fr. Ignazio Medina. Credit: Diocese of Jefferson City.

Medina, who became pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish in 2013, had accumulated funds for years in a parish bank account he’d opened, which he did not report to the Diocese of Jefferson City during annual parish audits. 

When auditors discovered the account in 2018, with a balance of more than $300,000, the diocese told Medina to begin including it on parish balance sheets.

But two years later, shortly before the priest left for a parish for a new assignment, he emptied the account, with checks written to himself and his sister.

Medina said initially that the money was given to him personally, and not to the parish, according the Department of Justice. But parish donors disputed that story, saying they had written checks deposited into the account, which were intended to be given to the parish and its school. 

When he was caught by law enforcement officials, Medina also claimed that he gave his sister $100,000 to refund donations she had made to the parish. When no record of those donations could be produced, the priest said instead that he sent his sister money to care for their mother, who was unwell.

The priest, 72, could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. But given Medina’s age, his status as a cleric, and the fact that he returned the money when he was caught, he is likely to see a much reduced sentence. 

In an canonical trial regarding his theft, conducted in the Jefferson City diocese, Medina was found guilty of abusing the office of pastor, and assessed a penalty of $26,000. 

Last year, the priest was also found guilty in a canonical penal proceeding of sexually soliciting a penitent in the confessional, and has been prohibited from priestly ministry.

Robert Warren, a retired IRS investigator and professor of accounting at Radford University, has conducted extensive research on priests who steal.

Warren told The Pillar that the case demonstrates that parish bank accounts should be tracked more carefully — because undisclosed accounts, which go unaudited by diocesan auditors, provide a frequent occasion for parish theft.

“Father Medina’s use of an ‘off the books account’ is remarkably similar to at least 19 cases in the study I conducted with Dr. Tim Fogarty of Case Western Reserve University,” Warren told The Pillar, while providing a databases of parish theft cases involving undisclosed bank accounts.

“In one case, a priest in Connecticut, [Fr. Michael Moynihan], maintained an ‘off the books account’ to fund a lifestyle which included an apartment he shared with a close male friend. In the second case, a priest from Michigan, [Fr. Edward Belczak], created an ‘off the books’ account to deposit donations that he diverted from legitimate parish uses. Both priests were prosecuted federally,” he added.

Warren also mentioned the case of a California religious sister who stole more than $800,00 from a parish elementary school to support a gambling habit. 

From 2008 until 2018, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper moved tuition money to an unmonitored bank account connected to the school, which allowed her to run up credit bills and pay casinos, without the notice of her religious community or other school officials.  

Some steps taken in Jefferson City — including the public disclosure of a canonical case for financial misconduct — are relatively rare for an American diocese, as many U.S. dioceses decline to say whether any canonical steps are taken after a priest faces criminal charges for theft or embezzlement. 

But Warren told The Pillar that diocesan officials could have seen red flags as soon as they discovered the undisclosed parish account, years before the actual theft occurred. 

“The Father Medina case is frustrating on so many levels because it was a preventable long-standing fraud which was not fully addressed when discovered and then allowed to continue until after he left the parish,” he said.

“The first red flag was that he had an ‘off the books’ bank account in the name of the parish that was not included on the parish balance sheet. The second problem is that after he was caught in 2018, he was told to include the bank account on the parish balance sheet without any apparent disciplinary action. The third problem is that he stole at least $300,000 from that same bank account after he included the account on the parish balance sheet but before he left the parish.”

The Diocese of Jefferson City has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Pillar.

Warren urged dioceses to take up several policies which might prevent fraud, theft, and embezzlement perpetrated through “off the books” accounts.

He first suggested that parish members regularly ask their bank to flag other accounts opened in the name of the parish.

“A member of the parish finance committee should periodically communicate with the security officer of the parish’s bank. Most bank security officers belong to an inter-bank association of security officers. This finance council member should ask their bank security officer to query his or her fellow members from other banking institutions for accounts in the name of the parish,” Warren said.

“Second, an auditor should spot check recorded donations through the accounting system to make sure that donation was deposited into a proper bank account,” — namely, one regularly audited by the diocese, he explained. 

He also suggested diocesan policy to safeguard against suspiciously large withdrawals. 

“Parish bank accounts should require a double signature for withdrawals over a certain amount,” Warren suggested, identifying a policy which does exist in many U.S. dioceses, but not all — some of which, like Jefferson City, recommend internal control practices to parishes, without formally requiring them in particular law.

Warren also emphasized the importance of equipping priests and laity to better monitor parish finances. 

“Priests and lay parish staff should receive training in the proper accounting of donations,” he urged, and “a hotline should be available for lay people to report suspected fraud without fear of retribution.”

Finally, Warren urged that dioceses ensure priests know they will be sanctioned — and face social stigma within the Church — if they steal from the parishes to which they are assigned.

“In 2022, the Archdiocese of Detroit celebrated the 50th ordination anniversary of Father Ed Belczak,” Warren said, as an example. 

“Father Belczak pleaded guilty to stealing $572,000 from his parish through numerous schemes, including establishing a secret bank account in the name of the parish, and then depositing hundred of thousands in donations meant for the parish,” he said. 

Noting that the published 2022 biography of Belczak made no mention of his crimes, Warren urged that dioceses understand the importance of deterring would be thieves from committing financial crimes in the Church.

“Dioceses should not celebrate priests who steal from their flock,” he said.