NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter
Peter Feuerherd | Dec. 17, 2015
Accusations of theft. A lifestyle of the rich and famous on a salary of about $30,000 per year. A man-man-woman triangle.
If there is a formula for a New York tabloid story, the case of Fr. Peter Miqueli, accused of embezzling more than a million dollars from two parishes, is exhibit A.
A lawsuit brought by some of Miqueli’s parishioners — he subsequently resigned his Bronx pastorate last week — charges him with theft from weekly collections and a church thrift shop, all to allegedly finance a prescription drug habit and to support Keith Crist, a bodybuilder friend, with a cash purchase of a $264,000 house in New Jersey and the rent on a Manhattan apartment, among other items.
Tatyana Gudin, a woman identified as Crist’s former girlfriend, has offered explicit details into the priest’s relationships which have become fodder for the city’s tabloids, including this story in the New York Post.
Both Miqueli and Crist have been unavailable for comment while Gudin has provided media outlets with a steady flow of information about the alleged sexual and financial improprieties. Miqueli, in his resignation letter to the parish, denied the charges and said he was cooperating in an archdiocesan investigation into the alleged embezzlement.
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