Two priests from Farsala, central Greece, on Friday received jail sentences of 18 and 6 years respectively after being found guilty of embezzlement. The two clerics, who were responsible for handing out the paychecks to priests in the area, were using fake documents to claim extra money from authorities. A Larissa court also ordered them […]

CLEVELAND – A priest of the Romanian Catholic diocese of St. George was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing from the coffers of the parish where he served and from an 89-year-old parishioner who entrusted him to oversee her finances. Father Andre A. Matthews, 54, former pastor of St. Helena Romanian Catholic Parish […]

CHICAGO, IL – The Chicago Tribune has published an extensive article about Rev. James Dokos, presiding priest at Saints Peter and Paul parish in Glenview, concerning the trust that was established by former parishioners of his when he had been pastoring at the Annunciation parish in Milwaukee, WI. Dokos served there for 22 years prior […]

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A former Cleveland reverend was sentenced to serve two years in prison Wednesday for stealing over $170,000 from a church. Andre Matthews, 54, a former reverend at St. Helena Catholic Church, stole the money from the church’s bingo events. He is also accused of stealing over $100,000 from a parishioner. Church members […]

CLEVELAND — Father Andre Matthews, 54, of Cleveland, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for stealing money from his parish. Matthews was a reverend at St. Helena Church on W. 65th Street in Cleveland. In June, he plead guilty to stealing more than $175,000 from the church over a six-year period. The defense […]

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A judge sentenced the former pastor of St. Helena Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church to two years in prison for siphoning money from parish coffers and stealing from an elderly churchgoer. Andre Matthews, 54, had already pleaded guilty to charges that he stole $176,000 from the church and more than $100,000 from an […]

Documents detail spending from fund entrusted to priest; Milwaukee officials investigating Even after retiring to Florida, Ervin and Margaret Franczak stayed in regular contact with their longtime priest back in Milwaukee. Especially after Ervin died in 2001, the Rev. James Dokos looked after Margaret, visiting her on occasion and sending poinsettias at Christmas, friends said. […]

When the Parish Council at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church realized the church’s former pastor may have misused some $200,000, council members initially did not want to refer him to the district attorney for possible criminal charges, but they felt they had no choice, their attorney told the congregation Sunday. “The intention was not to have […]

Charity starts at home. Some folks take that adage a bit too far. Deputies busted Robert Kondratick and accused the 67-year-old administrator of the Holy Spirit Orthodox Church in Venice of embezzling more than $50,000 from church’s ‘Good Samaritan Fund,” money earmarked to help parishioners who have fallen on hard times, according to a news release […]

As reported in the Herald-Tribune, former priest and former Orthodox Church in America chancellor Robert S. Kondratick pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony charge of larceny on Wednesday, October 16th. The paper said that the former priest agreed to serve two years of community control and eight years of probation, as well as to pay restitution […]