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	Priest Told Feds He'd Return Some Money, but Not End Vacation By Susan Spencer-Wendel TCPalm February 20, 2009 http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/20/priest-told-feds-hed-return-some-money-not-end-vac/ WEST PALM BEACH — Prosecutors rested their case Thursday against the Rev. Francis "Frank" Guinan, a priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his former Delray Beach parish. Their final evidence was a recorded phone call between 66-year-old Guinan, who was vacationing in Australia, and agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who told him there was a warrant out for his arrest. In the call, Guinan acknowledged to a certain degree inappropriate use of the church's money, expressed remorse and said he would be willing to pay some back - but not end his vacation prematurely. In the 20-minute call played for jurors, Guinan was cooperative, answering the agents' questions in a steeped Irish accent difficult to understand at times on the recorded cell phone call. Agents John Marinello and Mike Driscoll asked Guinan about financial management at the parish. "You don't want to record things, you don't want to go through the kind of hassle of things. But not like rip the place off," Guinan said. Guinan estimated there was about $3 million in slush funds hidden from the Diocese of Palm Beach. "To my knowledge never abused," he said. Records show one of Guinan's purchases was a home in Port St. Lucie. The agents asked the priest if cash contributions were spent because he had gone through hard times. "Yes, you feel like you made sacrifices over and beyond," Guinan said, adding later he had done his fair share of charity which never was recorded. The agents asked him the nature of his relationship with Carol Hagen, a church bookkeeper with whom he took trips and paid thousands of dollars of church money. "Carol's a good friend, that's it," he said, adding that others have tried to cast the relationship as an affair. Guinan's defense attorney, Richard Barlow, begins presenting witnesses Friday in front of Circuit Judge Krista Marx. Guinan could face possible prison time if convicted as charged. His defense is grounded in the accounting practices of the parish, or lack thereof. Barlow is aruging that jurors can really know money is missing when so much money was never recorded at all so as not to be reported to the Diocese of Palm Beach. Prosecutors Mike Rachel and Preston Mighdoll pared down thousands of documents and dozens of witnesses to the nuts-and-bolts: the bookkeepers who quit in disgust at the skimming of cash they saw at St. Vincent Ferrer and shared their impressions that Guinan rarely visited the church office on weekdays, except for picking up cash after the collection had been counted. The also presented check after check, written by Guinan, that showed church money bought him trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas, some with Hagen. An accountant and certified fraud examiner testified Thursday that according to his analysis, the parish accrued $20,000 less per month during Guinan's 19-month tenure from 2003 to 2005. William Michaelson compared collections from Guinan's time there with months after he left. Michaelson extrapolated that a total of $309,000 in cash and $487,000 in checks and cash had gone missing during the time period. Barlow peppered Michaelson with questions about money that was accrued during Guinan's tenure as pastor, totaling more than $2 million, according to the accountant. He also asked about money left in the slush funds since seized by the Diocese. "So the church got some money!" Barlow added with emphasis as he turned to face the jury. He quizzed Michaelson at length about fees paid to priests for services and how they were disbursed and shared.
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