By Eric Herman and Susan Hogan
Chicago Sun-Times [Chicago IL]
June 14, 2007
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/427657,CST-NWS-priest14.article
The Rev. Mark Sorvillo — who lived to shop at Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's — could soon be shopping at the prison commissary.
Sorvillo, a Catholic priest, plans to plead guilty next month to stealing nearly $200,000 from St. Margaret Mary Church, the West Rogers Park parish where he was pastor for nearly 12 years.
"He could have been stealing for a lot longer than we know," said parishioner Dan McGuire. "It went on a lot of years undetected."
Brian Collins, Sorvillo's lawyer, told Judge Diane Gordon Cannon on Tuesday that his client will plead guilty July 20 in exchange for a four-year prison term. Sorvillo, who is out on bond, will likely serve two years, a law enforcement source said.
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| The Rev. Mark Sorvillo leaves court in October after posting bond. He was charged with stealing church cash to pay for shopping sprees at Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus, opera tickets and travel abroad. Photo by Jon Sall |
Sorvillo, 54, skimmed more than $40,000 from collections taken at mass, then deposited the funds in his personal checking account, according to court documents. He wrote more than $30,000 in checks to himself from one parish account and wrote 98 checks totaling $138,000 from another parish account to pay his bills.
'Lavish lifestyle'
At times he returned money, but the church paid more than $62,000 of his credit card bills at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Marshall Field's, in addition to his Visa and American Express bills, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Sorvillo used the money to fund a "lavish lifestyle" that included a summer vacation home, tickets to the Lyric Opera and Notre Dame football games and trips to Paris, London and Venice. He once spent $635 renting equipment in Lake Geneva, Wis., and billed it to the church as "vestments and other church supplies," prosecutors said. On one liquor store trip, Sorvillo spent $970. At La Cucina di Donatella, a Chicago restaurant Sorvillo liked, he often got the $20 veal saltimbocca, sources said.
Meanwhile, the parish school found itself short of funds. In November of 2004, Sorvillo proposed shutting it down and opening a charter school in its place. That prompted an audit that found "wild fluctuations in the parish's cash collections," as well as other problems, court documents state.
"It was hard to explain to our children and continue to have faith in the church," said Peggy Cunniff, the current president of the school's board.
The archdiocese ousted Sorvillo in February 2006 after a sting operation revealed that collection money had been stolen.
Eric Herman: eherman@suntimes.com
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