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	Investigation to Deepen against Priest in Warren By Jay Richards The Morning Call October 7, 2007 http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b4_3ascolese.6079329oct07,0,3174516.story The Warren County prosecutor's office will seek help from the New Jersey attorney general to review accounting records to see if additional charges should be filed against a former priest accused of rigging church raffles and embezzling $1 million in church funds. Assistant Prosecutor Craig Barto on Friday reported he will seek the assistance of the attorney general's office to review evidence collected by his investigators as well as materials supplied by Melvin Wright Jr., the attorney representing Robert Ascolese, 46, former priest of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Washington, N.J. Ascolese, now living in Perth Amboy, N.J., was indicted in September 2006 on five counts of theft, seven counts of forgery, three counts of issuing forged checks, one count of falsifying public records, seven counts of tampering with public records, seven counts of theft by deception, and one count of conspiracy. He allegedly embezzled almost $1 million in church funds and rigged raffles between 2001 and 2005. Co-defendants William P. and Sheila Quilban, both of Hampton, N.J., were indicted on charges of conspiracy and theft by deception. They were offered a chance to enter the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, in which the charges would be dropped after a period of probation, if they would testify against Ascolese. The plea offers were rejected on March 2. There will be a status conference in the case on Nov. 30. Attorneys Thomas Fischer and Kevin Benbrook are expected to ask for the dismissal of charges against the Quilbans. Jay Richards is a freelance writer.
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