"Police say humble Conn. pastor was secret high roller; Allegedly stole $1m from parish" by John Christoffersen, Associated Press | July 7, 2010
NEW HAVEN — The Rev. Kevin J. Gray was a popular priest who appeared to live humbly, forgoing a car so that a Catholic charity could use his space at the rectory. Parishioners thought he had cancer and admired how he helped immigrants in his largely poor parish in Connecticut.
But after a routine audit of the church’s finances turned up discrepancies, authorities began a criminal investigation that they say unraveled a secret double life of male escorts, strip bars, and lavish spending on the finest restaurants, luxury hotels, and expensive clothing, financed with money stolen from the parish.
Gimme back that collection plate!
“About a million,’’ Gray told authorities without hesitation when asked how much he took from the church account, according to his arrest affidavit.
No wonder the Catholic Church is going broke.
Gray, former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny, accused of stealing $1.3 million from the church over seven years, police said. He was arraigned yesterday in Waterbury Superior Court and was held on $750,000 bond, court officials said.
“Up until this investigation he had an excellent reputation,’’ said police Captain Christopher Corbett. “. . . He’s certainly an example of someone who was leading a double life.’’
Gray told church officials and others that he had cancer, but police found no evidence of that, Corbett said. Saying he was undergoing treatments in New York may have been an excuse to explain his absence from the parish, he said.
If I were in his parish I'd say burn him at the stake.
Gray, 64, used the money to stay at such hotels as the Waldorf-Astoria, New York Palace Hotel, and Copley Square in Boston and bought expensive clothing including Armani, Saks 5th Avenue and Brooks Brothers, police said. He dined at Tavern on the Green and Arturo’s restaurants in New York, Union League Cafe in New Haven, and Abe & Louie’s Restaurant in Boston.
Yup, HE LIVED GOOD while the church scrounged for money and the locals stood in food lines.
One man Gray met in New York’s Central Park told police that Gray paid for him to attend Harvard University, bought a piano and dogs, paid for his piano lessons, and covered his veterinarian bills. When the man asked why he always paid him with checks from Sacred Heart, Gray told him he had won big cases as an attorney and placed his life savings into the church account, according to the arrest affidavit.
What, did he think God isn't watching?
As police interviewed the man, Gray arrived at his apartment. Gray admitted he was not an attorney and did not have colon cancer, police said.
Telephone messages left at Sacred Heart and the public defender’s office were not immediately returned.
Police said Gray told them he grew to hate being a priest and was upset with the archdiocese, believing he received the worst church assignments.
Then QUIT! Don't RIP OFF the DONATIONS in the collection plate!
According to police, he said he made checks payable to himself in excess of his salary and admitted to having a secret phone deal in which an antenna was placed in the church steeple to generate cash.
“We are deeply saddened by the events which have recently had such a profound affect on [the] parish,’’ the Archdiocese of Hartford said in a statement.
Archdiocese officials said they are working with the parish to improve its financial controls and deal with its debts.
“At the spiritual level, we continue to pray for healing and consolation for the parish family,’’ they said in the statement.
The archdiocese asked police to investigate after a financial review uncovered indications that Gray may have taken more than $1 million for personal use. The missing funds involved a combination of parish savings and money that should have been used to pay debts such as insurance premiums.
Church officials announced those findings last month.
Gray was Sacred Heart’s pastor from 2003 until April 15, when he was granted a medical leave. He was later suspended.--more--"
At least he didn't rape any kids, right?
"Priest named in abuse case is suspended
Roman Catholic officials said they have suspended a Connecticut pastor accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing an altar boy in the 1980s and trying to buy his silence with bribes and threats. The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said yesterday that the Rev. Stephen Bzdyra was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. He said Bzdyra is on a pilgrimage in Europe, but will not return to St. Augustine Church in Seymour as pastor and will not function as a priest while on leave. Bzdyra has referred comment to the archdiocese. William Dotson, 34, made the allegations against Bzdyra in a lawsuit filed this week in New Haven (AP)."
Maybe it is a good thing the Catholic Church is coming apart.
What a bunch of demons.
Others needing last rites:
"Police: Man killed friend near Conn. 'Holy Land'
WATERBURY, Conn. --A 19-year-old man was charged Sunday with raping and killing a 16-year-old friend whose body was found near a closed and run-down religious attraction in Waterbury.
I'd say it was blasphemy, but....
Francisco Cruz faces charges including capital felony, murder and sexual assault in the death of Chloe Ottman. Her body was found near Holy Land USA on Saturday, a day after her family reported her missing.
Cruz was the last person seen with Ottman, but initially denied having anything to do with her disappearance, said Waterbury police Capt. Chris Corbett. After being questioned, he led police to the body and confessed to sexually assaulting and strangling her, Corbett said.
Cruz and Ottman, both of Waterbury, had been friends for about two years and walked together to the mostly deserted Holy Land USA on Thursday evening, Corbett said.
Cruz was behind bars in lieu of $5 million bond on Sunday and was expected to be presented in court on Monday. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Holy Land USA was an 18-acre religious attraction on a hillside overlooking Waterbury in western Connecticut. Closed for years, it featured a "Hollywood"-style Holy Land USA sign and replicas of Bethlehem and Jerusalem made from scrap wood, chicken wire, sheet-metal and other materials.
Its 50-foot cross is still illuminated at night and serves as a city landmark. The site is owned by the Religious Teachers Filippini, and several nuns still live there.
--more--"
"Suspect in killing of Conn. teen charged in courtWATERBURY, Conn. --A 19-year-old Connecticut man has been charged with murder in the death of a teenager at a one-time religious attraction in Waterbury.
Francisco Cruz faces charges including capital felony that carries the possibility of the death penalty in the killing of 16-year-old Chloe Ottman.
He was presented in Waterbury Superior Court on Monday and charged with murder, sexual assault and strangulation. He's being held on $5 million bail.
Court records say Cruz told police he had a crush on Ottman and raped, strangled and fatally stabbed her when she rejected his advances. Cruz's body was found near the Holy Land USA site Saturday, a day after her family reported her missing.
It was not immediately clear if Cruz has a lawyer.
--more--""Inquiry set after 2 die fighting blaze
State Police and the state fire marshal’s office are investigating the cause of a weekend house fire in which two Bridgeport firefighters died. Elaine Ficarra, spokeswoman for Mayor Bill Finch, said yesterday that the two state agencies and city officials are investigating the fire Saturday that killed Lieutenant Steven Velasquez, 40, and Firefighter Michel Baik, 49. Velasquez had worked for the Bridgeport Fire Department since 1994, and Baik had served since 2007. The two were found unconscious on the top floor of the three-story house after they sent out mayday calls (AP)."
"Conn. judge rejects death-penalty challenge; Suspect in triple slaying argues US attitudes changing" by John Christoffersen, Associated Press | July 29, 2010
NEW HAVEN — A Connecticut judge has rejected challenges to the death penalty by a man charged in a 2007 home invasion in which a mother and her two daughters were killed.
Lawyers for Steven Hayes, 47, argued that executions should no longer be permitted after the Legislature’s decision last year to abolish the death penalty, even though Governor M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill.
New Haven Judge Jon Blue rejected the argument yesterday, saying the vote by the General Assembly was not enough to end the death penalty in Connecticut.
“The action of a single legislature, vetoed in accordance with state law, is insufficient to justify a judicial finding that societal endorsement of the death penalty no longer exists in Connecticut,’’ Blue wrote.
Blue rejected defense arguments that there is a growing national consensus against the death penalty. The judge said 35 states have the death penalty on their books, the same number as in 1976.
Hayes’s lawyers also argued that capital punishment should be rejected in his case because Rell violated Hayes’s due process rights when she referred to the sole survivor of the home invasion in her veto message.
But Blue said Rell’s veto message did not prejudice the case. He also said that no one with knowledge of the governor’s veto was placed on the jury and that a fair and impartial jury has been selected.
Joshua Komisarjevsky, 29, also is charged in the case.
Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were killed.
Police documents say the two men tied up the victims and poured gasoline on and around them before setting the house on fire and fleeing in the family’s car. Both were arrested a short distance from the house in Cheshire, about 15 miles north of New Haven.
Hawke-Petit was strangled, and the two girls died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner’s office.
--more--"
HARTFORD — Joseph Ganim, the former mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., became a free man yesterday after serving nearly seven years for corruption while in office, but political observers and local officials doubt he will run for office any time soon.
Ganim, 50, was a popular mayor, often credited with reviving Connecticut’s largest city, and had ambitions to be governor....
Ganim, convicted of 16 corruption charges, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2003 for steering city contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive wine, custom clothes, cash, and home improvements....
--more--"
Also see: Around New England: Hartford's Headache
Mr. Mayor my ass!
Related: Cape shooting victim is Conn. school counselor
"Beachgoers urged to help protect birds
They may have bigger problems.
See: Massachusetts' Treasure Island
Globe Walks Gulf Coast Beaches
They migrated back to that mess to lay eggs?
They won't be coming back.
