The parishioners of a Catholic priest from New Jersey have reportedly accused him of stealing $1 million from the church collections.
The lawsuit was filed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Archdiocese of New York, alleging Father Peter Miqueli stole money from the collections of at St. Frances De Chantal in the Bronx since 2003 and used the money for sexual trysts with his housemate Keith Crist, according to News12.
Miqueli and Crist live together in a home in Brick, according to his neighbors, reportedly paying more than $260,000 cash for the home six years ago.
The suit alleges the priest used the money to act out fantasies as a sexual “slave,” blowing $1,000 at a time on bondage-and-discipline sessions where a “homosexual sex ‘master’, ” identified as Crist, “would force Father Miqueli to drink Keith Crist’s urine,” according to The New York Post.
Miqueli also spent $60,000 in 2012 for “illicit and prescription drugs” he used with Crist, and paid $1,075.50 a month for his “sex master’s” East Harlem apartment, according to the report.
The lawsuit raises questions about whether it was paid for with stolen money from the Bronx church and his former parish in Roosevelt Island.
Parishioners’ attorney Michael Dowd says that he has evidence that will support the allegations, showing off a check for $14,000 Miqueli wrote to himself and a bank statement worth over $400,000 dollars, according to News12.
A spokesperson for the Bronx District Attorney’s office told News 12 that they are also aware of the allegations and are waiting for the results of the audit from the Archdiocese of New York.
Parishioners say that the priest didn’t let anybody else handle cash donations and took security cameras down in the church, according to the report.
Miqueli allegedly took donations from two different parishes he presided over since 2003, and he used the collection-plate cash to purchase a house in Brick in 2009, according to The Asbury Park Press.
No one answered the door when a reporter visited the single-story home on Friday located on Cornell Drive in Brick, according to the report.
The 34-page lawsuit allegedly shows how Miqueli allegedly spent the stolen church dollars taken from a thrift store and parishioners’ donations, and how Miquel frequently took trips to Italy and Florida, spent as much as $60,000 in 2012 to buy illegal drugs to consume with Crist and pays $1,075 a month to rent a Park Avenue apartment for Crist, according to the report.
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