MICHIGAN
The Detroit News
Robert Snell
The Detroit News
Detroit — A Catholic priest and a parish administrator were indicted and accused of stealing almost $700,000 from St. Thomas More Church in Troy and blowing the cash on a condominium and other expenses.
The five-count indictment, announced Wednesday, charges the Rev. Edward Belczak, 69, of Troy and Janice Verschuren, 67, of Bloomfield Hills with stealing the money from the church and Archdiocese of Detroit between 2004 and 2012.
The stolen money allegedly included most of a $350,000 gift to the church from the family of a dead parishioner and cash donated by churchgoers during special Mother’s Day and Father’s Day collections, prosecutors alleged.
The duo tried to hide the alleged crime by creating false documents and submitting them to the Archdiocese, prosecutors allege. The documents under-reported the amount of the parish’s operating receipts.
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