Ottawa Priest Charged after Parish Funds Allegedly Misappropriated

Windsor Star
July 4, 2012

www.windsorstar.com/life/Ottawa+priest+charged+after+parish+funds+allegedly/6881975/story.html

OTTAWA - An Ottawa priest faces fraud and theft charges after police say they found hundreds of thousands of dollars were misappropriated from a downtown parish.

Police say they reviewed financial records at the Blessed Sacrament parish in the Glebe neighbourhood following a complaint by the Ottawa archdiocese.

Fraud investigators examined records from January 2006 to May 2011 and allege they found more than $240,000 in cheques had been misappropriated.

They say they also they couldn't account for more than $160,000 in cash revenues.

It's alleged some $20,000 in furniture and household items were taken from the rectory and later recovered from a home outside the province.

Joseph LeClair is charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000, criminal breach of trust and laundering proceeds of crime.

He was released from police custody on a promise to appear in court on July 25.

An online petition in support of "Father Joe" was launched last year after the archdiocese turned the matter over to police, but drew only a handful of signatures.

The site criticizes the "weak to non-existent financial and accounting control system put in place by the archdiocese and the lack of support our parish priest received in the area of financial management from the diocese."

Police are urging charitable organizations — including religious groups — to establish "clear and up-to-date fiscal management practices."