By Ted Czech
Daily Record
February 9, 2011
http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_17340739
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| Richard Nachajski (Submitted) |
York, PA - A former priest - who now lives in York County - has been charged with embezzling money from the Reading church where he was pastor for more than 15 years, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.
The Berks County District Attorney's Office said Richard Nachajski used funds left to the church by two deceased parishioners, wrote checks with church funds payable to himself and bought a time share in Mexico.
The funds totaled $476,093, according to a news release from the district attorney's office.
Nachajski, 64, of the 1100 block of Glendale Road in Spring Garden Township, was pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Reading from 1992 to 2009.
When he took a leave of absence from his church, it was with the idea that he was leaving the priesthood, said Matt Kerr, spokesman for the diocese.
When Nachajski left, the diocese conducted an audit, as is routine when any pastor leaves, and discovered the missing money, Kerr said.
Berks County detectives began an investigation, and on Wednesday, arraigned Nachajski at District Judge Stuart Kennedy's office in Reading. Nachajski was released on $25,000 unsecured bail. Efforts to reach him for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Nachajski is expected at Reading's Central Court for a preliminary hearing Feb. 25, according to Kennedy's office. If convicted, Nachajski faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, a fine in excess of $40,000, and restitution.
Joe Aponick, spokesman for the Diocese of Harrisburg, where Nachajski would have to be registered if he was living in York County and still working as a priest, said, "We have no association or connection with him in any fashion."
"My understanding is that when he left Allentown, he got married," Aponick said. Nachajski was listed in a York County marriage application filing in 2009.
Detectives investigate
Following Nachajski's departure, the Allentown diocese's audit of St. Anthony's finances revealed suspicious purchases, unaccounted funds, and an unknown bank account, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office.
Kerr said the diocese contacted the district attorney's office in November 2009 because of the audits findings. The diocese and the parish cooperated fully in the investigation, Kerr said.
"The parish intends to file an insurance claim and expects to be reimbursed for much of the money that was allegedly misspent," Kerr said.
For the next year-and-a-half, Berks County detectives investigated the allegations. Using two investigative grand jury subpoenas and seven search warrants, detectives seized credit card records, bank records, various purchases and service records dating back to 2002. They acquired official copies of two wills filed in Berks County and assessment and transaction records from York County and Pike County.
Examining the records, detectives found that Nachajski used funds left to the church by two deceased parishioners and that those funds were transferred between various accounts that only he knew about and had access to, according to the district attorney's office.
With church funds, Nachajski wrote more than $325,000 in checks made payable to him and to various financial institutions for credit card payments on purchases he made within that period of time, according to the news release.
Nachajski also used church funds to purchase a time share in Mexico for $13,000 and a vehicle for the church, which he kept after he took a leave of absence in March 2009, the district attorney's office said.
Nachajski's transactions were solely for personal use, and included travel, lodging, entertainment, restaurants, home improvements, home decor, insurance, consumable goods, and retail purchases.
"The travel expenses included payment for himself, as well as companion(s) during foreign and domestic trips," the news release states.
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