BishopAccountability.org
	Restitution Ordered in Church Theft Ex-Office Manager Admits Larceny from St. Christopher By Matt Gryta Buffalo News [Tonawanda] May 8, 2007 http://www.buffalonews.com/102/story/70980.html St. Christopher Catholic Church in the Town of Tonawanda will get back all of the nearly $500,000 its former office manager stole, and the Buffalo Catholic Diocese's insurance carriers will benefit as well, officials said Monday after the woman's guilty plea. Maureen Durrell pleaded guilty before State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang to a charge of second-degree grand larceny. She was ordered to come up with $135,000 in partial restitution by her scheduled July 23 sentencing. John C. Doscher, chief of the Erie County district attorney's White-Collar Crime Bureau, told the judge that based on the confession of judgment Durrell was forced to sign, attorneys for the diocese can now negotiate with insurance carriers on the thefts. Doscher said the restitution arrangement in the criminal case will aid the diocese, which is self-insured for $100,000 of any such thefts. Durrell, 47, of Paramount Parkway, Town of Tonawanda, was briefly jailed in mid-December following her indictment on charges related to the theft between September 1998 and her forced resignation in February 2005. She declined to comment as she left court Monday with her lawyer, Thomas J. Eoannou, and her husband. The judge told Durrell she will consider a possible local jail term of no more than six months and possible probation but warned her that she still faces a possible 15-year state prison term on her thefts. According to prosecution evidence, Durrell used the church funds for lavish family vacations, home improvements and family expenses. Doscher said the investigation into the thefts took longer than expected because Durrell, who had been office manager and secretary of the church at 2660 Niagara Falls Blvd., had systematically deleted financial data from the church computer. She remains free on $20,000 previously posted bail. A spokesman for the diocese had said previously that Durrell was forced to resign from her church job after being confronted with an audit of the church's books. Contact: mgryta@buffnews.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.