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	NJ Priest Admits Using Parish Funds for Vacations Asbury Park Press November 3, 2010 http://www.app.com/article/20101103/NEWS03/101103107/NJ-priest-admits-using-parish-funds-for-vacations Monsignor Patrick Brown, longtime pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic church in Long Hill, admitted in federal court Wednesday that he stole nearly $64,000 from the church to buy relatives' gifts, pay credit card bills and fund trips to Ireland, Hawaii and Colorado. Brown, a 59-year-old Stirling resident who also maintains a residence in Budd Lake, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to the criminal charge of tax evasion. He acknowledged $63,706 in thefts between 2004 and June 2009, and specifically admitted that for the year 2005 alone he misreported his income as only a $30,930 salary from the church, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Upon entering his plea, Brown resigned as pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, a parish of 1,385 families that he had served since July 1992. Attorney Kenneth Mullaney, counsel for the Diocese of Paterson, said that Brown will temporarily be reassigned to a parish in Paterson, though not as pastor. He will serve the poor and have no contact with finances, Mullaney said, adding that the temporary reassignment is being made at Brown's request. Brown faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. He also faces restitution to St. Vincent de Paul to be decided at sentencing on Feb. 9, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Brown had been the longtime chaplain for the Morris County Jail and frequently delivered benedictions and invocations at public ceremonies. County Freeholder Director Gene Feyl said he was surprised by the guilty plea, as the cleric always struck him "as a caring, compassionate man." "He always was a gentleman, very priestly," Feyl said. "I'm always surprised when I hear of any pastoral person doing something like this." Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, stated in a release that just three days after Brown started leading the Long Hill parish, he opened an account with Chemical Bank that took in parish money, including funds paid by parishioners and others for cemetery plots and related funeral expenses. He kept this account open until October 2007 and hidden from both the parish and the diocese while he used it to fund personal expenditures and buy gifts for his mother and siblings and take pleasure trips to Hawaii, Colorado and Ireland, Fishman said. He later closed this account and opened a new account with Sovereign Bank, which was funded in part with church donations. Again, the hidden fund was used to pay for work done on Brown's home in Budd Lake and to fund a trip to Sun Valley, Idaho, Fishman said in a statement. Authorities previously have said that an investigation into Brown's finances began in summer 2009. Peggy Wright: 973-428-6624; pwright@gannett.com
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