Ex-Church Aide Charged, Probe Casts Pastor As a Gambler; His Assistant Is Accused of Embezzling More Than $100k from Parish, by Norman Sinclair, The Detroit News, December 19, 2007

Ex-Church Aide Charged
Probe Casts Pastor As a Gambler; His Assistant Is Accused of Embezzling More Than $100k from Parish.

By Norman Sinclair
The Detroit News
December 19, 2007

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/METRO01/712190361/1041/rss11

DETROIT -- Despite demonstrative support by parishioners for the Rev. Donald Demmer, who resigned this summer from his Garden City church, a criminal investigation revealed salacious details about the priest's lifestyle and felony charges against his assistant.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy on Tuesday announced a charge of embezzlement against Debra Ann Kilyanek, 54, of Garden City for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from St. Dunstan Roman Catholic Church.

The church owes more than $1 million in unpaid payroll taxes, interest and penalties.

Worthy said while the investigation revealed questionable conduct, including an admitted gambling habit by Demmer, there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime.

She said records showed that Demmer took as many as 200 trips to casinos in Michigan, Nevada, and Florida since 2000. He also took trips to casinos and Caribbean resorts, including Club Orient, a clothing-optional resort on St. Martin.

Kilyanek

Worthy said numerous subscription charges on Demmer's bank records were paid to companies providing pornographic Internet services.

"The conduct of Father Demmer, while disturbing, is not criminal," she said. Worthy said the priest should have more closely supervised Kilyanek, an administrative assistant authorized to withdraw money from church accounts. An audit by the diocese last spring revealed a loss of $111,693 and turned the matter over to the Garden City police department and the prosecutor's office.

In June, Demmer resigned from St. Dunstan, where he had served for more than 20 years, and was placed on sick leave by the archdiocese.

That investigation showed that beginning in October 2005, Kilyanek allegedly charged personal credit card expenses to the St. Dunstan parish checking account.

Kilyanek was also charged with using a computer to commit a crime, a felony with a penalty of 20 years in prison, and/or a $20,000 fine. The embezzlement charge is punishable by 15 years and/or a fine as high as three times the amount embezzled. She was released on a $100,000 bond.