Adams County PA Nov 5 2012 A priest accused of embezzling nearly $385,000 from hisformer church in rural The Pennsylvania State Police arrested the Rev. Caesar A.Belchez, of New Freedom, Pa., on three counts of felony theft after a prolongedinvestigation that began in 2011, after Belchez left Saint Joseph the WorkerCatholic Church in Bonneauville, Pa., after about five years presiding over therural parish.
Belchez left the parish of about 400 families in 2011 in aroutine transfer of priests, said Joseph Aponick, spokesman for the RomanCatholic Diocese of Harrisburg.
"That's when the new priest noticed things weren't theway they should be," Aponick told ABCnews.com. "He discovered whatappeared to be malfeasance."
The parish's new priest, the Rev. Augusty Valomchalil,reported the financial irregularities to the diocese, which, in turn, contactedstate police, Aponick said.
Police, the district attorney, and the diocese then launchedan investigation, the diocese said. It discovered, among other irregularities,an unauthorized transfer of money between church accounts and accounts inBelchez's name, including an eTrade account, according to court documents. Thedocuments charge that Belchez embezzled $311,983.95 and made an additional$72,766.81 in unauthorized credit card charges.
According to court documents, Belchez confessed to thecrimes at the time of his interview by the
Belchez has been released on $50,000 unsecured bail and wasforced to forfeit his passport as he awaits a preliminary hearing later thismonth.
Belchez declined to request a public defender according tothe court docket and it's unclear if he has hired an attorney. He has notentered a plea yet.
Aponick called the alleged crime an isolated incident.
"The bishop is very concerned," he said, "andwants to make it known that money entrusted to the church is used with absoluteresponsibility."
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