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	Police: Priests' Thievery Worse Than First Thought Authorities Discovered More Secret Bank Accounts in the Investigation of Two Priests Who They Said Stole Money from Catholic Parishes By Stephanie Slater Miami Herald September 30, 2006 http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/ counties/broward_county/15644093.htm Delray Beach - Police officials served more search warrants and uncovered more secret bank accounts Friday as they continued to pore over the financial records of two priests alleged to have mishandled $8.6 million in church donations. "The dollar amount is constantly changing," Detective Thomas Whatley said. A 15-month investigation by Whatley and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement culminated Wednesday night when they charged former St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church pastors John Skehan and Francis Guinan with grand theft over $100,000. Skehan, a former Broward and Miami-Dade priest, and Guinan, also a former Miami-Dade priest, are believed to have diverted millions of dollars from collection plates and other donations to the church on George Bush Boulevard the past 42 years. Detectives said the priests hid the money in numerous "slush funds," and spent it on their female companions, trips to the Bahamas and Las Vegas, real estate, and personal expenses, including property taxes, credit card payments and condo association fees. The scandal sent such repercussions through the church that Bishop Gerald Barbarito of the Diocese of Palm Beach is scheduled to attend Mass sometime this weekend at St. Vincent's and St. Patrick's Church in Palm Beach Gardens, where Guinan worked for 16 years. He is alleged to have taken money from that church as well, one witness told police. Guinan , ordained in 1966, served at Epiphany, St. Michael and Archangel and St. Hugh in Miami-Dade from 1969 to 1975. He also was pastor of Christ the King in Perrine in the early 1980s. Skehan, 79, arrested at Palm Beach International Airport Wednesday night as he returned on a flight from his native Ireland, was ordained in 1952. He served at Epiphany in South Miami, St. Anthony in Fort Lauderdale and Little Flower in Hollywood during the 1950s. He was pastor at St. Matthews in Hallandale Beach from 1959 to 1963.. MAIL SEIZED The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is attempting to make arrangements for Guinan, who is vacationing in Australia, to surrender in Florida, said special agent supervisor Mike Driscoll. Detectives, armed with two search warrants Friday, seized more than four months worth of financially related mail from Skehan's home, police spokesman officer Jeff Messer said. They searched the contents of a safety deposit box at a Delray Beach SunTrust bank. Skehan remained in the county jail Friday, as attorney Ken Johnson asked the court to allow the Skehan's Singer Island condo be used as collateral for the $400,000 bond. Skehan bought the condo on the 16th floor at Connemara -- named for a town in Ireland -- for $175,000 in 1982 from a fellow priest, records show. Meanwhile, rumors swirled that mega-mansion builder Frank McKinney, who serves as an usher at St. Vincent's 7 a.m. Sunday Mass, planned to post Skehan's bail. "I can tell you a man who's 80 years old, with high blood pressure just doesn't belong in the Palm Beach County jail," McKinney said. "We're trying to do our best to make sure that doesn't happen." Detectives said that Skehan stashed at least $1.6 million in four "slush" accounts. Skehan, who served at St. Vincent's from 1963 until his retirement in July 2003, is said to have given two former employees $1,500 cash after they refused to help the diocese look into the allegations. He's alleged to have spent $134,075 on a female companion and used more than $100,000 for credit card payments, according to a police report. GAMBLING TRIPS Guinan, who became pastor at St. Vincent's in September 2003, is believed to have mishandled upward of $400,000, spending much of it on gambling, trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas and credit card payments, police records show. He also gave his former bookkeeper at St. Patrick's Church nearly $50,000 between March and December 2004. The woman, who is alleged to have had an "intimate" relationship with Guinan, used $7,270 of it to pay her son's tuition to Cardinal Newman High School, records show. The diocese hired an accounting firm to do a forensic audit after an anonymous letter about the misappropriations was sent to State Attorney Barry Krischer in April 2005. "While no policies can totally prevent financial improprieties, especially in cases of collusion, the current policies and procedures are intended to prevent future improprieties such as those that have been alleged," Barbarito said. SCANDALS ABOUND Questions about how Guinan managed St. Patrick's Church when he was pastor there caused him to lose his temper on at least one occasion. Shortly after the diocese lost two bishops in a row to sex scandals, members of St. Patrick's met at Peter Amann's clubhouse to discuss forming a chapter of Voice of the Faithful, the Boston group that advocates for accountability in religious organizations. "Father Guinan found out and threw a fit on me," Amann said. "He thought we were conspiring against him." Skehan had been a client of The Trouser Shop on Delray Beach's Atlantic Avenue for 20 years, said store owner Bruce Gimmy on Friday. He'd visit before each Ireland trip and buy pants for himself and his brother. Gimmy said he wasn't shocked when he heard of Skehan's arrest. "When he pulled out his money to pay for the pants, he would pull a roll out that would choke a horse," Gimmy said. 'I'd say, 'What are you? A racetrack guy?' He'd say, 'No, I don't do the races.' " Other times Gimmy would jokingly ask Skehan if he was taking 15 percent of the offerings. "I only take 10 percent," Skehan would reply. "We were kidding about it, but he was probably telling the truth," he said. Years ago, before The Trouser Shop opened, Gimmy was a bartender at the Arcade Tap Room, a Delray Beach bar that has long since closed. Gimmy knew Skehan during those days, too, where Skehan was known to "throw money around." "He was a two-fisted drinker, a good-time boy," Gimmy said. "But he had pancreatitis and he stopped drinking."
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