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	Former Employee Charged with Embezzling Funds from Church By LeAnne Roger Observer & Eccentric December 29, 2011 http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20111229/NEWS03/112290369/Former-employee-charged-embezzling-funds-from-church?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Royal%20Oak|s A Canton woman has been charged with embezzling more than $13,000 from a Westland church where she was a longtime employee. That amount is only a fraction of the nearly $143,000 reported missing from St. Theodore Catholic Church and allegedly used by former bookkeeper Kathleen Galoch to pay her family's personal bills, with the permission of the parish priest. Galoch, 63, has been arraigned on a charge of embezzling over $1,000 from a nonprofit organization — a 10-year felony. A not-guilty plea was entered on behalf of Galoch, who was freed on a $10,000 personal bond and scheduled for a Jan. 19 preliminary examination in Westland's 18th District Court. Employed at the parish from 1986 until earlier this year when she was laid off due to financial problems, Galoch was hired as an administrative assistant, later having the job titles of parish administrator and business manager. Her duties included day-to-day bookkeeping, check preparation, bank reconciliation, counting and depositing cash collected, payroll and related duties. Once Galoch had been laid off March 31, the parish payroll was reviewed and some questionable transactions were identified. The Archdiocese of Detroit did a complete audit going back to January 1997 and reported nearly $143,000 missing from Galoch paying herself extra wages, paying personal expenses for herself and family members and using parish funds for what were described as loans/donations to herself and her relatives. An archdiocesan representative presented the audit to Westland police seeking criminal charges against Galoch over the missing $143,000. The audit showed checks written to pay mobile home rental fees, utilities and other expenses for Galoch's adult son, James E. Galoch, and wages for her husband, James J. Galoch. Both men had done maintenance-type work at the parish. Personal bills were also paid for Galoch's former daughter in-law, Shannon. However, when Sgt. Matt Price interviewed the Rev. Gary Michalik, who had been the St. Theodore parish priest, the case became more complicated. “The priest had verbally authorized checks to pay the son's utilities and trailer lot rent,” said Price, adding other checks and payments were also verbally authorized by Michalik, who is now assigned to St. Colette Catholic Church in Livonia. The nearly $14,000 was identified as transactions not authorized by Michalik — loans or donations to Shannon Galoch covering her mortgage and car payment, personal transactions for Kathleen Galoch including property tax payments, taxes owed on her personal income tax return, a traffic ticket for her son and a personal tax consultation fee. In a statement to police, Galoch said that she worked very hard for the church, which did not pay overtime and felt she deserved extra compensation. Additionally, Galoch told police she was angry at being laid off and cashed additional checks incorrectly sent to her after she was laid off. Galoch had improperly filed her income taxes, adding money her husband earned to her income, she told police so that her husband wouldn't lose his Social Security benefits. lrogers@hometownlife.com | (313) 222-5428
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