Priest, Inmate Were Team in Fraud Scheme, Jury Told

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press
October 1, 2014

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2014/10/01/priest-embezzlement-trial-angel-fund/16562931/

Rev. Timothy Kane

Detroit Catholic priest Timothy Kane allegedly skimmed money for himself from the Angel Fund charity by conspiring with a state prison inmate, who recruited people to make false requests for aid which Kane then approved, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury was told Wednesday.

Telephone calls between the priest and the prisoner, Fonsha Reid, were taped and monitored by the state Department of Corrections, which notified the Archdiocese of Detroit in July 2012 about suspicious conversations between the two.

The archdiocese then conducted an internal investigation before turning over its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office a few months later.

Archdiocese investigator James Smith, a retired police officer who works for the archdiocese's law firm, testified that Kane, as associate pastor of a trio of Detroit and Highland Park churches, signed off on 10-15 "suspicious" requests from the Angel Fund totaling about $131,000 in 2008-12.

Kane is charged with stealing less than $20,000 in relation to those Angel Fund monies. Kane faces six counts.

Other Kane-approved Angel Fund requests totaling about $381,000 were "absolutely legitimate," Smith said.

Smith said his interviews with recipients showed that Kane received "kickback money on this fund," and that the arrangement "seems to be a criminal enterprise."

Wednesday brought opening statements and testimony in the trial against Kane, the former associate pastor of Madonna and St. Gregory churches in Detroit and St. Benedict in Highland Park.

The Angel Fund was operated by the Archdiocese of Detroit and funded by an anonymous donor, who gave about $17 million between 2005 and 2014 to help urban priests pay for emergency needs such as medical or mortgage bills for poor people.

Prosecutors have reached a plea deal with codefendant Dorreca Marvie Brewer, who they said was Kane's accomplice in making false Angel Fund applications.

Brewer, who pleaded no contest to three counts involving embezzlement and fraud last month, may testify against Kane. She has not yet been sentenced.

In laying out how the kickback scheme worked, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Woodyard alleged that inmate Reid and Brewer recruited people to file false requests from the Angel Fund, which were approved by Kane.

Woodyard also showed an Angel Fund request for $5,000 and a subsequent October 2008 check receipt for Reid, authorized by Kane. According to state records, Reid was serving a 15-year sentence for manslaughter from 1994 to March 2009, and a separate felony firearm sentence from summer 2009 to mid-June of this year, but jurors were not told about his record.

Sister Mary Sylvia Grey, who worked with Kane in parish outreach and volunteered to help him process Angel Fund requests, described how Kane interviewed recipients and then would e-mail information for her to include on the forms.

On the witness stand, she read from the 2008 application for Reid's Angel Fund request, which described him as being "in excess of $5,000 in rent," facing an eviction notice and needing an auto transmission to keep a fast-food job.

Prosecutor Woodyard described how Brewer recruited a man to provide identification to file a false request for Angel Fund money, which Kane authorized. When a $1,500 check was approved for him, Brewer kept money for herself and gave some to Kane, while giving the man $300, Woodyard alleged. That man is on the witness list.

In his opening statement, Kane's attorney Steven Scharg said the Angel Fund gave priests wide latitude. Requirements to receive money were "so bare" and allowed pastors "whatever they want to do with that money," Scharg said.

Scharg also said there were instances of Angel Fund recipients being "so grateful" that they "wanted to give something back to Father Kane" to help others.

Kane was accompanied by a dozen supporters in court, including the Rev. Norman Thomas, pastor of Sacred Heart and St. Elizabeth churches in Detroit. "I know Tim and he certainly never showed any extravagance," said Thomas. "He lived a very simple lifestyle. Almost bleak."