Priest who stole from Seymour’s St. Augustine’s repays money

By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
New Haven Register
July 12, 2016

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20160712/priest-who-stole-from-seymours-st-augustines-repays-money

Honore Kombo

SEYMOUR >> A Roman Catholic priest formerly from St. Augustine’s Church, arrested in March for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the church, has repaid all the money.

The church recently received a check in the amount of $31,160.12 from the Rev. Honore Kombo, and a credit card Kombo had opened in the church’s name, with a $25,000 line of credit, now has a zero balance. That’s according to an announcement made over the weekend during Sunday’s Mass by the church’s current pastor, the Rev. Kevin Forsyth, and information posted in the church bulletin.

“This draft repays the parish for the funds that were missing as determined during the forensic accounting audit undertaken of the parish’s financial records,” Forsyth said. “He has also directly repaid the line of credit ($25,000) he opened in the parish’s name, bringing the balance of that line of credit to zero. The parish thereafter closed that line of credit. Father Kombo has now applied to the court for accelerated rehabilitation. I know I will keep Father Kombo in prayer, and I hope you will, too.”

Forsyth, who replaced Kombo, referred all inquiries about Kombo to Maria Zone, the Hartford Archdiocese’s director of communications, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Kombo, 50, of Wilton, was arrested in March and charged with first-degree larceny. According to the police arrest warrant, Kombo said he used the money to help people back in his native Africa.

Kombo since applied for accelerated rehabilitation, a special form of probation, and is scheduled to appear in court July 26 in Milford to see whether that request is granted. Upon successful completion of an AR program, an individual can have criminal charges against dismissed and have no criminal conviction on record.

Kombo served at St. Augustine’s from January 2011 until July 2015, when he was removed by the Archdiocese of Hartford and placed on administrative leave as a police investigation ensued.

According to the arrest warrant, Kombo used more than $27,000 from an annuity left to the church by a deceased parishioner, opened a line of credit in the church’s name and sent money, as well as two laptop computers, ato the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from which he hails. He told police the money was needed to fund various projects and for loans for people in his homeland. He has lived in the U.S. for 16 years.

Church officials alerted police after misappropriations of funds were discovered in the church’s 2014 financial reports.

Kombo following his arrest told police he was sorry for what he had done, saying “That is very unfortunate what I did and I’m deeply sorry, but it was not for ill intention, and I’m responsible for it,” Kombo said. “I will accept for whatever the law sees fit in cases like this.”