Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe recieved a 37 month prison sentence today for theft when he appeared in Federal court.
From the Las Vegas Sun: A Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison Friday for siphoning some $650,000 from his northwest Las Vegas parish to support his gambling habit.
Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe, 59, made no reaction as U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan faulted him for abusing a position of trust in his congregation.
Muffled sobs erupted from a courtroom packed with supporters.
Defense attorney Margaret Stanish asked the judge for probation and to let the McAuliffe continue getting counseling for his gambling addiction, keep practicing as a priest and pay restitution to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Summerlin.
But the judge added four months to the sentence recommended by Deputy U.S. Attorney Christina Brown, who said there is no reason McAuliffe should get a break.
He could have received up to 60 years in prison.
McAuliffe had complete control from to 2002 to 2010 of church activities and finances and was able to hide his embezzlement because he was a signatory to financial statements to the Las Vegas Diocese and Catholic Archdiocese in San Francisco, Brown said.
When confronted by the FBI last May, "the defendant for two hours offered various explanations as to how his earnings supported his gambling," she said. "When these explanations failed, agents asked the defendant if he stole money from the church, which the defendant denied."
McAuliffe pleaded guilty in October, before an indictment or criminal complaint was filed, to three counts of federal mail fraud for falsifying documents sent in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to the archdiocese.
McAuliffe was removed as pastor of the northwest Las Vegas congregation of more than 8,000 families and relieved of diocese duties. A month before, the Rev. James Jankowski, interim pastor of the church, pleaded in the church newsletter for parishioners to be patient.
Bishop Joseph Pepe, head of the regional church administration since 2001, issued a statement saying the diocese and parish were cooperating with federal authorities, and that church administrators were handling the matter internally.
Stanish told the judge that McAuliffe began paying restitution to the church in May, and that to date, he had paid $13,420.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jan/13/us-gambling-priest-4th-ld-writethru/
Nice that the judge saw through the charade of McAuliff's excuses- gamling addiciton and the assorted psychological excuses. As I said before, McAuliffe got lucky that he was only charged in Federal Court and while the State courts chickened out in prosecuting him. He could easily been charged with theft, burglary, receiving stolen property etc if the Clark County DA would have done his job.
So, now, McAuliffe will spend a month over 3 years in prison where he will probably go to the Oxford WI. prison in Wisconsin, if he wants to return home.
And still the Las Vegas Diocese is doing nothing about this case. They have not fired McAuliffe, they are cooking the books in his restitution and they have not tried to defrock McAuliffe- meaning firing him from the priesthood.
Meanwhile, I hope the Las Vegas Diocese is taking this case seriously and I hope they have ordered extensive audits of all of the Dioceses churches to make sure this is not happening elsewhere.
This wraps a sad day for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, the Las Vegas Diocese and Father McAuliffe. Hopefully, we will not see anymore sad days like thing in a long time.
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Yes a wrong was committed and I am not a parishoner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. I am Catholic and for all of you who wrote that you are sickened by the act of Father McAuliffe, well you all must be Saints and have never committed a sin in your entire life. It is of saddness that this has happened to your Church. Drugs,Gambling is a serious illness. Maybe as one Catholic to another you should kneel down before Jesus and tell him how perfect you are, that you never in your life sinned. I thought as Catholic's we believed that our God is all forgiving. We all have sinned and you judged Father. I thought only God does the judging. And forgive those who trespess against us....Remember the prayer the Our Father. Please say the words. I will continue to pray to all the parishoners who have judged becasue he will forever suffer in his life. Sincerly, A parishoner of St. Francis of Assisi. I not only pray for peace of heart for Father, but for all of you who suffer from lack of compassion.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I agree with you. Monsignor Kevin is in my prayers too.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason to feel sorry for him our let him get away with it. Its theft! They are held in a higher standard in religious society but should not be in a court of law. Yeah yeah yeah. Only God will our should judge... Is God going to make the restitution payments or are people out the money?
ReplyDeleteBishop Pepe should be investigated for negligent supervision. He was ordained as bishop in 2001 and Msgr. Kevin's pattern of theft began in 2002. Bishop Pepe never had St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish audited in all his years as bishop -- despite the fact that it is multimillion dollar annual operation. Bishop Pepe is required by church law as well as by common sense to exercise financial oversight of all parishes that he owns. Civilly he owns all parishes of the Diocese of Las Vegas "corporation sole," as Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Vegas. Yet he has no idea what is going on in his parishes. He has no idea of whether his priests are living lives of holiness or not. Pepe lives as if he thinks that he won a vacation to Las Vegas back in 2001 and it hasn't ended. It was commonly known by many people that Msgr. Kevin handled the finances personally and was frequently seen in the Texas Station casino sitting at the machines. Yet Pepe never investigated and instead endowed the title of Monsignor on McAuliffe and made him his Vicar General -- second in command to the bishop himself. When is Pepe going to be held accountable as another of his priests goes off to prison?
ReplyDeleteThere is a big sense of betrayal, I think that is where people who are upset with him are coming from. They trusted and they were betrayed. Not that we are perfect, but that someone we view as close to Christ and who goes in persona Christi did something sinful. It scandalizes the faithful.
DeleteWe should forgive him as Christ forgives us. But when we sin, we are still are required by Christ to do penance - even though we are forgiven. And so should McAuliffe. We should pray for him continually as well as for all our priests who are mere mortals like us but who are held to higher standards.
Oops, I was trying to reply to Anonymous Jan 14. To Frank Gratian, I want to say I agree wholeheartedly. It is odd that SEAS was not audited in years while other parishes were audited as expected. One wonders what the Bishop's thinking was, because it makes no sense to me.
DeleteThis is not about those who have never sinned casting stones. Please give that a rest. He rationalized being allowed to take what was not his. And he felt entitled to take it. And he would still be taking if not caught. Nothing in Catholic belief that prevents civil law to be applied here. Too many old fart parishioners worshiping a priest instead of Christ. And those saying he wouldn't be in this position had he not had a gambling addiction - what about the $50k he stole to travel? It wasn't just for gambling. This is not a person of high moral character. It caught up to him. His entitlement attitude ruined him. Absolutely no reason for him not to part the consequences here on Earth. Yes, God will forgive him. That doesn't mean he gets off with no punishment. He's not getting hung, just going to pokey for a few years. That'd getting off easy in my book.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Byzantines better lock up their money until he goes to prison. Look who is in charge...... http://catholicsandheretics.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1
ReplyDeleteIt seems strange that as Monsignor McAuliffe goes off to prison, his picture is still on the Diocese web site and that he has not been defrocked as a priest.
DeleteIt seems like the Diocese has forgiven McAuliffe, which maybe they should, eventually, but the big question is if McAuliffe is still on the payroll and if he is still priest. Finally, will McAuliffe be considered a priest in prison and perform priestly duties in prison?