MICHIGAN
Macomb Daily
By Dave Phillips, dave.phillips@oakpress.com
POSTED: 04/23/14
A priest and a parish administrator have been indicted on federal charges, accused of stealing nearly $700,000 from a Troy church.
Edward Belczak, 69, of Troy, and Janice Verschuren, 67, of Bloomfield Hills, were charged in a five-count indictment, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced Wednesday.
Belczak and Verschuren are accused of stealing money and diverting funds from the church and the Archdiocese of Detroit “for their unjust enrichment, then (concealing) their criminal acts by creating or verifying false financial reports that were submitted to the Archdiocese,” McQuade’s office stated.
Authorities accused Belczak and Verschuren of diverting to their own use nearly $500,000 donated or bequeathed by parishioners to the church; using almost $11,000 stolen from the church to pay closing costs on Verschuren’s sale of her condominium in Palm Beach, Fla., to Belczak; diverting to themselves more than $26,000 in commissions paid to St. Thomas More Travel Group; and diverting to themselves more than $33,000 owed to St. Thomas More Church by Diocesan Publications.
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