Just as the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office promised, grand theft charges have been refiled against the Revs. John Skehan and Francis Guinan, former pastors of Delray Beach's St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church.In February, prosecutors dropped charges accusing the two longtime priests of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars from church coffers.
At the time, State Attorney Barry Krischer said the decision was a tactical one made because neither the state nor the defense was ready for trial, which had been scheduled that same month.
In the interim, attorneys on both sides have continued to prepare their cases and taken sworn statements from potential witnesses.
Skehan, 81, is accused of taking about $370,000 during five years ending in September 2006. That figure is much lower than the $1.5 million investigators initially found was taken.
Accountants hired by the Diocese of Palm Beach went back to around 1996 when auditing Skehan, who headed the large Delray Beach parish for about 40 years.
Statutes of limitations only permit the state to bring a case against him for thefts that occurred between the five years starting in September 2001 and ending in September 2006, when charges were filed.
Guinan, 65, is believed to have taken $488,000 during a 19-month period that commenced when he became pastor in September 2003.
Charges were filed against the priests in September 2006 after the Diocese of Palm Beach conducted an audit that revealed that as much as $8.6 million had been stolen from the church over two decades.
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