Priest Gets Prison Time in Embezzlement Case

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Despite pleas for mercy, the Rev. Ed Belczak was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison for stealing $573,000 from the St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Troy, where he had served for nearly three decades.

Dozens of parishioners, prominent business owners, relatives and friends had asked U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow to show mercy, and Belczak testified Tuesday that he had suicidal thoughts because of the humiliation, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Belczak’s lawyer said the 70-year-old priest drank “heavily” to cope with running one of the largest, wealthiest Catholic parishes in Metro Detroit and was “a compulsive gambler” on the stock market.

The sentence Tarnow imposed is less than the 37 months federal prosecutors had recommended, but higher than the probation Belczak’s attorneys and supporters had sought.

Belczak was removed as pastor of St. Thomas More in January 2013 by the Archdiocese of Detroit after discovering financial irregularities. When he was charged with federal crimes in 2014, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron banned him from conducting public church services or working publicly as a priest.

Related

• Priest, Former Parish Manager Indicted in Alleged Theft of Church Funds
• Former Troy Church Manager Pleads Guilty in Embezzlement
• Dozens Seek Mercy for Disgraced Priest
• Supporters of Embattled Troy Priest Push for His Return
• Troy Priest Sues City for Access To Frozen Assets
• Archdiocese Investigates Mishandled Funds at Troy Catholic Church