Oversight Continues to Ensure Priest Pays Back Cash He Gambled Away

By Clifford Ward
Chicago Tribune
August 14, 2015

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-gambling-priest-hearing-met-0815-20150814-story.html

Officials will continue to monitor restitution payments made by priest who stole, gambled away church money.

DuPage County prosecutors will maintain some legal leverage for another six months to make sure a priest continues to repay the almost $300,000 he embezzled from his Roselle parish.

The Rev. John Regan appeared in court Friday on the four-year anniversary of his sentencing on charges that he stole money from St. Walter Church, where he was pastor, to fund a gambling addiction.

Regan has met the conditions of his 48-month probation sentence — Judge John Kinsella called him "compliant in the extreme" — but he still owes about $280,000 in restitution, which prompted prosecutors to file a petition to revoke probation.

The petition gives prosecutors continued jurisdiction over Regan and is intended to ensure he continues making restitution payments, Assistant State's Attorney Louisa Nuckolls said.

The judge set a February status date but otherwise released Regan from probation. That means he will no longer have to report to the county's court services department and will not be required to continue working at a $9.75-per-hour factory job, attorney Jim Ryan said.