MICHIGAN
Lansing State Journal
Beth LeBlanc , Lansing State Journal July 5, 2017
Local prosecutors have filed paperwork to seize the home of a priest charged with stealing from his Okemos parish.
The June 26 filing lists Rev. Jonathan Wehrle’s more than $1.4 million home in Williamston and a vacant parcel nearby as subject to civil forfeiture.
Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Lisa McCormick said the paperwork provides legal notice that the property is part of a criminal complaint and is subject to civil forfeiture.
Wehrle has not been convicted of a crime.
“If there’s no criminal conviction then you do not proceed on the forfeiture,” McCormick said.
If Wehrle is convicted and his property forfeited, his home could be sold and used as restitution, McCormick said.
Wehrle, the founding pastor of St. Martha Parish in Okemos, was charged in May with embezzlement of $100,000 or more. Police believe Wehrle used at least $1.85 million in parish funds on his Williamston home.
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