A Staten Island preacher was collared on charges of pilfering $84,537 from his flock and blowing it on fancy clothes, plastic surgery, Botox and booze, prosecutors said Monday.
The Rev. William Blasingame, 66, who recently resigned from St. Paul’s Memorial Episcopal Church in Stapleton, took the money from church accounts over a three-year period, law enforcement authorities said.
Update: The parish website is there.
A priest [blockquote]was collared on charges of pilfering $84,537[/blockquote]
There’s my bad pun for the day!
Never ceases to amaze me that people never examine the parish stats. Look at the TEC Chart for St. Paul’s. The data for Members, ASA, and PLATE & PLEDGE are CONSTANT for 2005, 2006, and 2007. The one thing about Variables (such P & P) is that one should see VARIABILITY. One doesn’t need a math degree to spot this. Have they had their “books” audited? I have some empathy for the Treasurer since he was dealing with a Rector that was there since 1976. Statmann
A Staten Island preacher was collared on charges of pilfering $84,537 from his flock and blowing it on fancy clothes, [b]plastic surgery, Botox[/b] and booze, prosecutors said Monday. Are they certain they got the right person?
#2 Membership steady at 200, ASA 75, plate and pledge about 55K. Is there an endowment?
TomRightmyer: Yes, siree. He was raiding the Trust Fund and his Discretionary Fund. I can understand that the treasurer did not examine the Discretionary Fund. I know that, when I was a treasurer, I would have done so only by direction of the vestry. But the trust Fund is NOT a matter of clergy discretion and should have examined on a regular basis. Statmann