Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger on Monday modified bail for Gregory A. Madeya, who was charged this summer with 10 felony counts, including theft and financial exploitation of an older adult, in connection with an alleged financial scheme involving three Western Pennsylvania churches.
Madeya, 69, has been free on $25,000 bail and living with a friend in Braddock Hills since his release from jail in early September.
In documents filed in August to support the criminal charges, police claimed Madeya misappropriated funds from multiple sources over several years, including three Western Pennsylvania churches, parishioners and donors. Police said he also took more than $230,000 from his mother’s investment accounts and failed to pay more than $248,000 in taxes.
Witnesses from the church community told authorities about missing collections, fundraising proceeds, donations, rent and other church-related fees that were never deposited into church accounts, investigators said.
Madeya previously worked at local Ukranian Catholic churches, including St. John the Baptist in McKeesport, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Derry Township and St. Demetrius in Jeannette.
Madeya was suspended from his position in the church in February 2024, according to the St. Josaphat Eparchy in Ohio.
In court documents filed last month, defense attorney Pat Thomassey wrote that Madeya is a retired ordained priest, has no criminal history, is not a flight risk and will live at his home near Vero Beach, Fla.
Thomassey previously suggested that a lack of protocols for how church officials are required to oversee funds may serve as a basis for the defense.
Police arrested Madeya in Florida this summer, and he waived extradition back to Pennsylvania to face the charges.
No trial date has been set.