Judge Orders Priest to Prison Term, Says Theft Was Greed Unmasked, Susan Spencer Wendel, Palm Beach Post, March 24, 2009

Judge Orders Priest to Prison Term, Says Theft Was "Greed Unmasked"

By Susan Spencer-Wendel
Palm Beach Post
March 24, 2009

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/03/24/0324skehan.html

Father John Skehan, 81, the Delray Beach priest who pleaded guilty to grand theft, leaves court Tuesday afternoon.

WEST PALM BEACH — Despite uniform requests for probation from the Diocese of Palm Beach, prosecutors and the defense, it's prison for Father John Skehan, the 81-year-old former longtime pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath sentenced Skehan this afternoon to 14 months prison, followed by seven years probation. He must surrender himself to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on or before May 1. He will be adjudicated guilty - a priest for more than 50 years now turned convicted felon.

Skehan left the courthouse, swarmed by cameras, shielding his face, without stopping to comment. He previously pleaded guilty to grand theft over $100,000 and expressed his remorse, admitting he took money he was not entitled to even though he knew it was wrong.

The 14-month sentence is less than the state sentencing guideline of 20 months.

Some of his supporters cried silently as Colbath read from his sentencing order. The judge started with the reasons he would grant a downward departure from the minimum 20 months Florida state sentencing guidelines required. He cited Skehan's age, his earnest and sincere contrition, admission of guilt and the $786,767 in restitution he has made.

"The court finds the defendant is not merely sorry because he got caught, but is truly shameful, embarrassed and remorseful," Colbath said.

Then, though, came why it would not be just probation.

"The crime of the defendant was pure greed unmasked. There was not a shred of moral necessity to excuse the defendant's crime," Colbath said. "Over the course of several years, this defendant was able to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars by violating the sacred trust of loyal and faithful parishioners - some very wealthy, some very poor."

Both a prosecutor and defense attorney asked Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath to put Skehan on probation.

Outside court, Skehan's defense attorney, Scott Richardson, said he was not surprised, but disappointed nonetheless. Not surprised because of the notoriety of the case and intense media coverage that followed, inaccurate accounts included, he said.

"Father Skehan is a man of faith," Richardson said. "He will come out of this alright."

The case has attracted widespread attention, including two news crews from Ireland and a Miami news crew present in court Tuesday.

For 40 years, Skehan was pastor at the Delray Beach church, an amiable man, multiple parishioners testified, willing to help any and everyone. The parish was rocked with his arrest and that of his successor priest, Father Francis Guinan in 2006.

Guinan, who took his grand-theft-over-$100,000 case to trial and was convicted of a lesser charge, is scheduled to be sentenced first thing Wednesday morning.

Retired Delray Beach Detective Thomas Whatley has called the men "professional money launderers" and estimated when he charged them that more than $8 million had been misappropriated over decades at the parish. Misappropriated - not outright stolen - in that the money was not properly reported to the Diocese of Palm Beach. Although some went to lavish vacations for the priests, some was kept within the congregation to cover expenses without going through the Diocese's funding requests.

Whatley looked on Tuesday as Skehan was sentenced.

"The judge was as kind as he could be," Whatley said outside court.

But think, he said, of Bernard Madoff, accused of stealing billions, looking at a life sentence. "How do you go and ask Mrs. Garcia for her last $10 of the week and then it goes to pay for a trip to the Bahamas?" Whatley said.