A priest from Co. Offaly who won
infamy by being jailed for using parish funds to finance lavish trips to
Las Vegas and presents for his mistress has been let out of prison
early – and has vowed to win his collar back.When Fr Francis Guinan was jailed for plundering Church money, he was accused of being involved in the worst case of embezzlement in the US Catholic Church’s history. Condemned as a ‘professional money launderer’, he was defrocked and banned from setting foot in his former parish.
Lurid tales of nights spent gambling in Las Vegas while accompanied by his much younger mistress ensured that his trial garnered headlines around the world.
But now the 69-year-old from Birr, Co. Offaly, is fighting back –and has insisted he is innocent of the charges that saw him locked up in a Florida prison for four years.
Having been stripped of his licence to minister to parishioners, the former priest is pinning his hopes on a Church tribunal review.
He believes that, given the chance to explain his side of the story, he will be vindicated and have an opportunity to be reinstated as a priest.
Speaking exclusively to the Irish Mail on Sunday at his Florida home, he said: ‘What people heard in the court when I was jailed was not the whole truth. There was a picture that was painted of me that was not true. All I can hope is that when my case is looked at again, people will learn different facts. I want my side of the story to be heard. How I have been portrayed is not right. I am innocent.’
The former priest sat down with the MoS at his house in a large gated development adjoining a golf course in Port St Lucie on Florida’s east coast. The house was bought in 2005, before he was convicted and during the time he was accused of pilfering from parish coffers. He denied lavishing the stolen money on a mistress, going on gambling sprees at Las Vegas hotels and taking Church funds for his personal use.
Guinan said prosecutors deliberately portrayed him as living a life of luxury paid for by wealthy parishioners, because their case was weak.
‘In terms of what I actually did, it was nothing as portrayed in the court. It was made out that I had a mistress. That was not true. It was said I gambled money at the Las Vegas casinos. Yes, I was there with friends but there were no gambling sprees. Things were said and I never got the chance to properly explain.’
Guinan was released in mid-July after serving three years and seven months of a four-year sentence. As with other inmates of Florida prisons, he served 85 per cent of his sentence with no time off for good behaviour.
Along with Fr John Skehan, the former priest of St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach, Guinan was found guilty of the worst known case of embezzlement in the Catholic Church in the US.
While Guinan was charged with the theft of more than $100,000, police said as much as $8m had been stolen over a 20-year period.
Due to the statutory limitation on crimes in Florida, both men were only charged with money that had gone missing since 2003.
Skehan, then aged 81, pleaded guilty and was given a 14-month prison sentence. He was ordered to give up a $366,000 condo and a rare coin collection worth $381,000. Guinan, who had only been at the church 20 months prior to his arrest, pleaded not guilty.
Although charged with grand theft of over $100,000, he was convicted on a lesser charge of theft under $100,000 and given a four-year sentence.
Judge Krista Marx described his actions as motivated by ‘unmitigated greed and unmitigated gall’. A detective in the investigation team labelled him a ‘professional money launderer’.
Shamed and thrown out of the Church, he served his sentence at four prisons around Florida.
On his release, he returned to his Port St. Lucie home, where he is now struggling to get used to being a free man.
‘In prison, every decision is made for you, but on the outside it is up to you,’ he said. ‘That has been [an] adjustment. I was only away for three years and seven months, but so much seems to have changed. I know I have a smartphone with email but don’t ask me how it works. I’m still trying to find out.’
Guinan said much of his time was now spent poring over paperwork as he prepares to face a Church tribunal and plead his case.
‘The Bishop of Palm Beach has agreed that I can appear before a Canonical Procedure. It will be my chance to put my side of the story, one that has not been heard. I do want to clear my name, but I try not to think too far ahead as there could be disappointments. I do feel that I have been betrayed by the Church, as I had given my life over to them. What hurt most during the trial was that the diocese of Palm Beach asked that I be given the maximum sentence of five to 10 years. There was no need for that. One of the men I was in prison with showed me sentencing guidelines, and someone charged with theft of less than $100,000 usually gets probation. I got four years. Where is the justice in that?’
Sipping coffee at his kitchen table, Guinan talked openly about his incarceration and how he was helped by the support of his friends and family.
He said his faith had been tested when it sank in that he was being locked up for four years.
He said his biggest sorrow was that he would not be able to celebrate Mass ‘That first night when I sat on my bed, I read passages from the King James Bible,’ he said. ‘It was then I realised I should not indulge in any self-pity.’
Guinan, who was aged 66 when he was jailed, served 15 months of his sentence in Belle Glade prison where he shared a dorm-style building with 40 other men.
Guinan said the worst part of his time in prison was the repeated strip-searches after he had been out to pick up motorway litter.
In his final year, he was allowed to work as a clerical assistant in the offices of a local construction firm.
He was paid minimum wage and earned $300 a month, although one third of this was taken by the state of Florida.
Guinan said he still owed $100,000, which he expects to be paying off until he dies.
In prison, he was visited by his sister and two brothers, who travelled from Offaly. Friends also came to visit, but he has had no contact with Skehan and he is also banned from returning to his former parish.
‘When you go to prison, you know who your friends are,’ he said. ‘Some have remained extremely loyal and I am grateful for that.’
'I’m Irish, I grew up with the horses,’ he said. ‘It was a hobby I liked. At his trial in February 2009, much was made of his relationship with Carol Hagen, the book-keeper from his former parish, and his trips with her to ‘Sin City’, Las Vegas.
Guinan, now looking tanned and fit, said that use of the word ‘mistress’ meant his trial made headlines around the world.
The court heard Guinan wrote Hagen cheques totalling $43,000 while also using church funds to pay the school fees of her son.
Asked if he still sees Ms Hagen, he said they were still in contact but he vehemently denied they had ever been lovers.
‘They tried to make out that we were a couple and that was just not true,’ he claimed. ‘They even said that her son was mine. Not true. He is from Bolivia and is adopted. How can he be mine? Yes, she came to Las Vegas, but so did her son.
‘His father lived in Las Vegas, so he was visiting him. That was never mentioned in court. People saw what they wanted to see.’
He denied that he financed the numerous trips to Vegas and to other casinos by helping himself to the Church funds.
‘I used to like playing the slot machines,’ he said. ‘One time I ended up winning $1,000, so I started playing the $5 machines. By the end of the night I was up $11,000. That was my own money. When I went to the casinos I was always ahead.’
He said he received complimentary accommodation as he was a frequent visitor and admitted that he liked gambling.
‘I’m Irish, I grew up with the horses,’ he said. ‘It was a hobby I liked.’ Guinan insisted that he got ‘caught up in the mess’ left by Fr Skehan who, prosecutors said, established a slush fund that contained more than $3m.
Asked directly if he stole money from St Vincent’s, Guinan offered a lengthy explanation that blamed the book-keeping procedures. He said he hoped the lax control of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were donated, as well as the wide latitude given to priests in matters of expenditure, will be explanation enough for the tribunal.
An appeal against his prison sentence was rejected in 2011, with the court finding his conviction safe.
It also rejected his plea that the prosecution was an ‘excessive entanglement with religion’ in violation of the US Constitution and the Florida Constitution.
Guinan still insists that what took place at his former parish should have been dealt with by Church chiefs.
‘There was no need for it to go to court. The church could have dealt with the matter internally,’ he said.
Despite that, it was his colleagues in the diocese of Palm Beach who alerted police after discovering just how much money was gone.
Guinan said he was spending his time preparing for the tribunal – but he has also played golf for the first time since his release.
His three-bedroom home, which he bought in 2005 for $150,000, overlooks the 18th tee of the St James Golf Club.
‘I played for the first time this week and thought if I scored under 100 I’d be doing well. I achieved that, but being away for so many years means that my swing is very rusty.’
Guinan said he was living on his Church pension and had an income from a condo he owns that is rented out. He pointed out that if he had stolen the huge sums alleged in court, he would not be living in such modest circumstances.
‘The car in my garage is over 10 years old. This is all I have got.’
He said he hoped to return to Ireland to see his family in the near future as authorities have returned his Irish and US passports.
‘Yes, I would like to go home. I hear that Fr Skehan has travelled back and I would like to go as well. My Irish passport has expired and I want to get it renewed. It will be nice to go back home.’
With time on his hands, he said he also wanted to go back to prison – this time to counsel inmates and spread the word of Catholicism.
‘From my time in jail, I realised that more can be done by the Catholic Church. I would like to do some sort of ministering, but if I can depends on others.’