PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Renatta Signorini
Thursday, July 3, 2014
A Westmoreland County judge has sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to serve 10 years on probation and to pay back $98,000 stolen from a South Huntingdon parish he previously served.
The Rev. Emil Stephen Payer, 69, of Unity was sentenced Thursday afternoon by Judge Debra Pezze.
Payer was charged with stealing money from the Church of the Seven Dolors near Yukon from October 2008 to August 2011.
Police said he drained funds from parish bank accounts, using the stolen money to pay credit card balances, to travel and to bolster a private tour business he operated.
The probe leading to Payer’s arrest began after parishioners raised concerns about the church’s finances.
Those concerns led the Greensburg Diocese to announce in April 2011 that the church was being audited.
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