MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press
Patricia Montemurri, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer October 1, 2014
Detroit Catholic priest Timothy Kane allegedly skimmed money for himself from the Angel Fund charity by conspiring with a state prison inmate, who recruited people to make false requests for aid which Kane then approved, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury was told Wednesday.
Telephone calls between the priest and the prisoner, Fonsha Reid, were taped and monitored by the state Department of Corrections, which notified the Archdiocese of Detroit in July 2012 about suspicious conversations between the two.
The archdiocese then conducted an internal investigation before turning over its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office a few months later.
Archdiocese investigator James Smith, a retired police officer who works for the archdiocese’s law firm, testified that Kane, as associate pastor of a trio of Detroit and Highland Park churches, signed off on 10-15 “suspicious” requests from the Angel Fund totaling about $131,000 in 2008-12.
Kane is charged with stealing less than $20,000 in relation to those Angel Fund monies. Kane faces six counts.
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