Priest charged with bank fraud had told Wichita diocese about misuse of funds

By Stan Finger And Amy Renee Leiker
Wichita Eagle
September 2, 2015

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article33632775.html

A priest charged Tuesday with stealing nearly $151,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Wichita and two small southeast Kansas churches to finance his gambling habit told the diocese last year that he had misused parish funds.

The Rev. Thomas H. Leland, 48, is accused of one federal count of bank fraud for taking unauthorized reimbursements, salary advances and overpayments and too much money for conducting church services between 2012 and 2014 while he was the parish priest at St. Francis in St. Paul and at St. Ambrose in Erie, according to a charging document filed in U.S. District Court.

Diocesan spokeswoman Amy Pavlacka, in an e-mailed response to questions, said Leland “self-reported” misusing the money in March 2014.

She said he was “immediately removed” from his position and sent to a six-month residential treatment program, which he completed.

Leland “has not, nor will he, return to ministry,” Pavlacka said in the e-mail.

Leland was assigned to St. Francis Parish and St. Ambrose Parish in 2010. Both are in Neosho County in southeast Kansas.

According to the federal charging document, Leland was the only priest for the churches at the time and had the sole signature authority on the parishes’ checking accounts.

He is accused of:

▪ Taking overpayments of stipends for conducting Mass, totaling $2,063.

▪ Taking advances and overpayments of $138,200 on his salary.

▪ Taking unauthorized reimbursements of personal expenses worth $10,656.

Jim Cross, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, wouldn’t say whether Leland gambled online or in person at a casino or other establishment.

The estimated loss to the diocese is $150,919.

Leland is scheduled for an initial appearance and arraignment at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 before Magistrate Judge Gwynne Birzer in Wichita.

Pavlacka, in an e-mail, described Leland as a “very caring priest” who was “very loved by those in the parishes he served.”

The diocese on Wednesday said it had no contact information for Leland. He had no defense attorney listed in court records.

The diocese, in response to questions about the criminal charge, issued a statement saying the allegations against Leland “reflect a difficult time for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. Our priorities throughout have been to assist and secure the financial well-being of St. Francis and St. Ambrose Catholic parishes, which we have done, and to help Fr. Leland navigate this difficult time with justice and mercy.

“Both Catholic parishes have turned the page and are thriving under the leadership of their new pastor, Father David Michael Htun.”

Pavlacka said Bishop Carl Kemme, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, spoke with both parishes in December “to communicate what he could at that time.”

Leland has served as an associate pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas in Wichita and as pastor at St. Paul in Lyons, Holy Name in Bushton, Holy Trinity in Little River, at St. Anne in Wichita, at St. Francis in St. Paul and at St. Ambrose in Erie, Pavlacka said.

He also served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army for three years, she said.