The former pastor convicted of stealing at least $400,000 from St. John Roman Catholic Church in Darien asked a judge Thursday to postpone the date when he must report to federal prison, court documents show.The lawyer for the Rev. Michael Jude Fay did not explain why Fay wanted to push back his surrender date from April 2.
But Fay said at sentencing he was dying from terminal cancer and would seek a postponement if he qualified for a new clinical trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center in New York, where he is being treated.
Fay's attorney, Lawrence Hopkins of New Haven, filed the motion under seal, meaning its contents are secret.
Hopkins motion seeking permission to keep the reasons for the delay request secret states that the request "contains confidential information regarding (Fay's) current circumstances."
Federal prosecutors plan to respond to Fay's motion at some point, said Tom Carson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Connecticut.
A federal judge in December sentenced Fay to 37 months in prison for stealing from the parish between 1999 and 2006.
Prosecutors said Fay stole $1.3 million.
Fay admitted stealing the funds but said the thefts amounted to between $400,000 and $1 million since he used some of the money to buy gifts for church employees and volunteers.
Prosecutors accused Fay of using the money for trips around the world and a down payment on a Philadelphia condominium.
An audit commissioned by the Diocese of Bridgeport found Fay spent $1.4 million over six years to buy designer clothing, limousine rides, Cartier jewelry and other personal items.
"It was an enormous crime because there were so many whose faith and dedication to the church were preyed upon," Judge Janet Bond Arterton said during Fay's sentencing at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Fay asked Arterton to spare him prison time so he could "die with the medical dignity my doctors and nurses provide."
Arterton said she took Fay's medical issues into account in settling on the 37-month prison sentence. She said Fay failed to prove the U.S. Bureau of Prisons could not provide adequate medical care for him.
Fay initially tried to delay his sentencing to April, when he is scheduled to finish his treatment for prostate cancer, court papers show.
Hopkins wrote that any long sentence would result in Fay's dying alone in prison.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce