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	Big Appetite for Food, Shopping Did Him in By Eric Herman Chicago Sun-Times July 22, 2007 http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/478449,CST-NWS-priestside22.article The Rev. Mark Sorvillo could have avoided jail if he had paid back the nearly $200,000 he admitted stealing from St. Margaret Mary, law enforcement sources said. But he couldn't. A man of prodigious appetites, Sorvillo weighed an estimated 400 pounds before having gastric bypass surgery in 2003. Before and after that, Sorvillo dined at fine restaurants regularly at parish expense. He also "went shopping on an almost daily basis, and submitted the bills to the parish for payment," prosecutors said in October. Sorvillo stole the money in a variety of ways — skimming from collections and cashing checks payable to the church, for example. He also got the parish to pay the overwhelming majority of his credit card bills, according to law enforcement sources. A review of the credit card statements reveals: • Charges at multiple European hotels, including the Hotel Crillon in Paris, the Hotel Danieli in Venice and the Hotel Eden in Rome • A $927.21 meal at Jean Georges, a five-star restaurant in New York City, on Aug. 21, 2004 • A $607.82 meal at Le Bernardin, a four-star seafood restaurant in New York City, on Aug. 20, 2004 • Charges of $637.73 at the Opera de Paris in April 2004 • Purchases totaling $2,181.56 at Bernardaud, a luxury goods store, on Sept. 25, 1999 • Stationery costing $111.51 from Il Papiro, a store in Florence, Italy • Purchases at Rochester Big & Tall totaling $2,351 from 1999 to 2003 • A $1,057.88 charge at Tiffany and Co. on April 13, 2001 • Meals at many Chicago-area restaurants, including Atlantique, Bice, Blackbird, Bruna's Ristorante, Carlucci Rosemont, Coco Pazzo, Emilios Tapas, Frontera Grill, Italian Village, Gibsons Steakhouse, Giordano's, La Boca Della Verita, Les Nomades, Maggiano's, M K, and Va Pensiero • Liquor store charges of $16,346.99 — including $14,809.67 at Binny's Beverage Depot — from 1998 to 2004 • Airlines tickets on Air France, Delta, Southwest, United and US Airways • Tickets to the theater in Chicago and New York City, including a $640 ticket purchase for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater • $1,572 worth of candy from Fannie May Sorvillo remains a priest but has been stripped of his priestly "faculties," meaning he cannot say mass or any other public liturgy, according to an Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman. Contact: Eric Herman eherman@suntimes.com
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