PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Joseph Tanfani
Inquirer Staff Writer
As an employee of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Anita Guzzardi, was considered a trusted servant of the church. Once, she headed an office that tried to restore the faith of strayed Catholics.
In her time off, she liked to play the slots at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City and to take vacations, using her American Express card.
And for years, Guzzardi paid those credit card bills by checks from the archdiocese – nearly $1 million in all, according to sources familiar with a continuing investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
The alleged embezzlement went on for at least six years, but no one in the church caught it, sources said. Instead, it was discovered by a fraud investigator with American Express who wondered why the archdiocese was ringing up charges at a casino.
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