A Pennsylvania priest has been caught embezzling church funds to, among other things, pay for services of men he met on Grindr.

The NY post reports:

The Rev. Joseph McLoone, 56, was arrested on felony theft and related charges Wednesday after investigators revealed that he opened a secret checking account in 2011 to deposit donations from parishioners at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Downingtown, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office announced.

McLoone, of Downingtown, then funneled the donation checks into an unauthorized “St. Joseph Activity Account” at TD Bank for the next six years and stole $98,405 in all, according to Chester County district attorney chief of staff Charles Gaza.

“Father McLoone held a position of leadership and his parishioners trusted him to properly handle their generous donations to the church,” Gaza said in a statement. “Father McLoone violated the trust of the members of St. Joseph’s for his own personal gain.”

McLoone allegedly withdrew roughly $46,000 in cash from the undisclosed account in Ocean City, New Jersey, where he owns a beach house. He also admitted to using some of the funds to pay for his “personal relationships” with other men, including $1,200 McLoone deposited into the commissary account of an inmate in a New York correctional facility, according to a criminal complaint.

The inmate, identified in court documents as Brian Miller, was never a Pennsylvania resident and had no previous connection to McLoone’s church. McLoone told investigators that Miller lived in New York City and that he met the inmate via Grindr for a sexual relationship, the complaint shows.

McLoone separately made 17 payments totaling $1,720 to men he met on Grindr via the Square online payment app and doubled the fee he collected as a stipend for each Mass, wedding and funeral held at St. Joseph’s Parish, prosecutors claim. He’s also accused of using $3,000 of the stolen funds to pay off personal credit cards.

Father Grindr:

 

Edited August 22, 20197 yr by Lucky

On 8/22/2019 at 5:14 AM, Lucky said:

...

McLoone allegedly withdrew roughly $46,000 in cash from the undisclosed account in Ocean City, New Jersey, where he owns a beach house. He also admitted to using some of the funds to pay for his “personal relationships” with other men, including $1,200 McLoone deposited into the commissary account of an inmate in a New York correctional facility, according to a criminal complaint.

The inmate, identified in court documents as Brian Miller, was never a Pennsylvania resident and had no previous connection to McLoone’s church. McLoone told investigators that Miller lived in New York City and that he met the inmate via Grindr for a sexual relationship, the complaint shows.

...

 

 

Sounds like a loon. Maybe I'm missing something, but how does one have sexual relationships with inmates in correctional facilities (especially if one isn't an inmate there)?