Daily Mail
April 28, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381728/Father-Kevin-Gray-stole-1m-Connecticut-church-male-escorts-clothes.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
[police report]
A Catholic priest who stole more than $1million in church money and spent it on male escorts, Armani clothes and nights out at gay bars has been jailed for three years.
But the priest from Connecticut could be allowed to continue serving as a priest after he has served his sentence, according to his former church.
Father Kevin Gray, 65, the former pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish, Waterbury, was sentenced to prison on Wednesday. He had entered a plea of no contest.
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| Jailed: Father Kevin Gray was sentenced to three years for stealing more than $1million in church money, which he spent on male escorts and designer clothes |
He had used the money to pay for a lavish lifestyle, which included owning a secret flat in New York, which he shared with a man who he paid to go to Harvard University.
Prosecutors said Gray will not have to pay back the money because the Diocese of Hartford did not ask for restitution.
In a statement, the diocese said: ‘Father Kevin Gray’s plea demonstrates that he is fully aware and responsible for the severity of his wrongdoing and is repentant.
‘After he completes his sentence, if devoted to his priestly commitment, he will be eligible to continue serving as a priest, but will never be placed in a position where he will manage finances.’
Police discovered the theft after Gray disappeared from his Connecticut church in April 2010.
Documents that he had left behind revealed that he had stolen money from the church and was living a secret gay lifestyle.
He made cheques payable to himself in excess of his salary and admitted to having a secret deal to place a phone mast on the church steeple to earn extra money.
A police investigation found that Gray was sharing a small apartment on New York’s Upper East Side with a man he met in Central Park in 2005.
He also paid for the man to attend Harvard University, bought him a piano and dogs, and paid for his piano lessons and vet bills.
The living room had a reproduction of part of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel stuck to the ceiling and a poster of the Virgin Mary on the wall.
According to court records, Gray paid $2,000 a month rent and would visit for a few days every week.Gray also used the money to stay at hotels such as the Waldorf-Astoria, New York Palace Hotel and Copley Square in Boston, and on expensive clothing labels including Armani, Saks 5th Avenue and Brooks Brothers, police said.
He dined at Tavern on the Green and Arturo's restaurants in New York, Union League Cafe in New Haven and Abe & Louie's Restaurant in Boston.
Gray's attorney called many of the charges against his client overblown.
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