A longtime priest at St. Helena Church on Cleveland's West Side has
pleaded guilty to stealing $176,000 from the Romanian Catholic
institution, a prosecutor said. The Rev. Andre Matthews, 54, used some of the money to pay credit card bills, buy cars and pay tuition for a family member to attend Cleveland State University, according to Assistant County Prosecutor James Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said some of the money Matthews stole was raised through church-sponsored bingo.
The West 65th Street church is one of several Romanian Catholic churches in Northeast Ohio and has 80 to100 families as members, said the Rev. Ovidiu Marginean, chancellor at the Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton.
Services are primarily conducted in Romanian.
The Romanian Catholic Church recognizes the pope as its leader, but follows different traditions than the Roman Catholic Church, said the Rev. Cristian Terhes, communications director for the Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton.
Marginean said Matthews had been pastor at St. Helena for at least 10 years. He left in September 2011.
Matthews' thievery was discovered in 2011, when church leaders noticed some bills were not being paid, Gutierrez said.
The leaders took their concerns to the Prosecutor's Office, Gutierrez said, and the Sheriff's Department investigated.
Gutierrez said investigators combed through thousands of pages of financial documents and found hundreds of withdrawals by Matthews from the church's bank account dating to 2005. Records were not available for prior years, he said.
Matthews was able to deceive his congregation for so long because of his position of trust, Gutierrez said. "People weren't really watching what was going on."
Matthews now lives in Kingman, Ariz., where he is working as a prison chaplain, Gutierrez said. He could not be reached for comment and his attorney, Gerald Gold, did not return calls seeking comment.
Matthews pleaded guilty to one count of theft and four counts of money laundering. Each count could result in a prison sentence of one to three years.
Terhes said he doesn't know what statement the church might make to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle at Matthews' sentencing, scheduled for July 17.
"I don't think we have an official position yet," he said.