Principal gets probation as Florida Catholic community faces second $200k theft

For the second time in a decade, the St. Coleman’s community has been hit by six-figure embezzlement.

A former Catholic school principal in Miami will avoid jail time after being convicted of stealing $200,000 from the school where she worked – the second six-figure theft discovered at St. Coleman’s Church and School in the past eight years.

Former principal Lori St. Thomas received 10 years’ probation and is being required to pay back $121,548 to St. Coleman Catholic School, where she had worked for more than 20 years before being fired in 2024.

The sentence comes less than a decade after another $200,000 theft was discovered at the same parish: The parish pastor resigned in 2018 after the archdiocese announced that he had stolen the money.

A retired IRS investigator told The Pillar the case should serve as a warning to Catholic leaders to ensure that parishes, schools, and other Church institutions have proper internal financial controls in place.

St. Coleman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Miami. Credit: St. Coleman Parish / Facebook.

A unanimous jury last month found 62-year-old St. Thomas to be guilty of embezzlement, formally Organized Scheme to Defraud.

According to court records, the theft was discovered after St. Thomas was fired in October 2024. Payroll records showed more than $238,000 in supplemental pay to St. Thomas over the course of nine years, and indicated that she had signed off on the payments.

St. Thomas’ defense attorney had argued that the payments had been approved by the appropriate authorities, including school bookkeepers, the parish pastor, and the Archdiocese of Miami.

Her attorney also said the accusations were made in retaliation against St. Thomas because she had reported alleged sexual misconduct at the school.

The state had asked for a sentence of five years in prison and 20 years of probation. But the circuit court judge gave a lighter sentence, citing St. Thomas’ mental health.

A court psychologist testified that St. Thomas had PTSD, following chronic childhood abuse, and needed specialized mental health care that would not be available to her in the prison system.

“This is a non-violent crime for which the need for restitution outweighs the need for Imprisonment,” wrote circuit court Judge Tim Bailey.

Bailey also noted St. Thomas’ lack of previous criminal history.

“[T]he character and attitude of the Defendant indicate that she is unlikely to commit another crime…Accordingly, more than a preponderance of credible evidence exists to demonstrate that Dr. St. Thomas poses no danger or threat to society,” he said.

Bailey said St. Thomas “maintains strong family and community ties, is actively engaged in her community, and contributes meaningful value to it. She has dedicated her life to service of others; first as a nurse, and then as an educator and leader for children in the Catholic faith.”

This is not the first time in the past decade that the St. Coleman’s community has been hit by six-figure theft.

In August 2018, the Archdiocese of Miami announced that the pastor of St. Coleman Parish, Father Henryk Pawelec, had resigned following reports that he had taken parish money “for his personal benefit.”

Pawelec had been pastor at the parish for three years.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said Pawelec had paid $236,469 in restitution to the parish.

“Father has been relieved of all duties in the Archdiocese,” he said. “Appropriate canonical proceedings have been initiated and the Archdiocese has reported this matter to the State Attorney’s Office for any possible civil action.”

Robert Warren is an assistant professor of accounting at Radford University, a retired IRS investigator, and an expert in theft and fraud in ecclesiastical contexts.

Warren told The Pillar the fact that these financial crimes were able to take place over a years-long period of time suggests serious insufficiencies in St. Coleman’s internal financial controls.

He said the situation at St. Coleman’s “should serve as a warning for Church leaders, including pastors and bishops, to exercise due diligence over internal controls, conduct regular audits, and exercise consistent discipline of those found to have committed similar conduct.”

“A proper internal control system is primarily the responsibility of management, but the school board members are ultimately responsible for ensuring that robust internal controls are in place and effective,” he continued.

Warren said the accounting system should have all disbursements clearly recorded and easily identifiable.

In addition, he noted that there was some overlap between the timing of the embezzlement of Pawelec and that of St. Thomas. Since Pawelec as pastor should have been overseeing parish finances while he was instead stealing from the parish, it is clear that “the tone at the top was not one that promoted financial integrity,” he said.

Warren also noted the contrast in how the Archdiocese of Miami treated the two cases. The archdiocese permitted Pawelec to pay back the stolen money and resign instead of facing criminal prosecution, while less than a decade later the archdiocese vocally supported the prosecution of St. Thomas.

“[A] reasonable, yet cynical, observer may conclude that there is one standard for clerics, and another for the laity,” Warren said, adding that the inconsistent approach “may promote resentment amongst lay school employees and even parishioners who have to foot the bill for these frauds.”