WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
August 8, 2018
By Rhina Guidos
A judge has postponed a mid-August trial for a priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million from a parish in Okemos, in central Michigan, part of the Diocese of Lansing.
Father Jonathan Wehrle was facing an Aug. 13 trial but his attorney in the criminal case told the Lansing State Journal he was withdrawing, prompting the judge in early August to push the trial to January 2019 to give new defense attorneys time to prepare, the newspaper said.
According to the newspaper, the announcement from Wehrle’s attorney came after Michigan State Police said in a news release that investigators from its Special Investigation Section discovered more than $63,000 in cash stashed above the ceiling tiles of the basement of the priest’s home during a July 17 search. A July 18 news release from Michigan State Police says officers found the words “For deposit only – St. Martha Parish and School,” the name of the parish where he served from 1988 until June 2017, on the cash bundles.
The priest faces six felony counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more.
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