Former St. Joe’s pastor charged with stealing $98G
WEST CHESTER >> When parishioners at St. Joseph’s Church in Downingtown gave their cash and checks to the church for the All Soul’s Day celebrations overseen by Msgr. Joseph McLoone, they believed that it was a way of honoring their deceased loved ones each Nov. 2 by donating to the church.
What they did not know, according to a criminal complaint filed in Magisterial District Court in East Bradford, was that all of that money was going to a secret bank account established by McLoone to fund his personal expenses, beyond the $26,000 he was paid annually by the church. According to the criminal complaint, none of the money would ever see the church’s accounts.
Even more, they did not know that McLoone, who took over the parish leadership in the wake of the controversy of a former priest charged with aiding a child sex-abuse scandal, allegedly used some of those funds to give money to men he had met online at a gay social networking site.
But those are the accusations in the complaint filed Wednesday by Chester County detectives in arresting McLoone, the former pastor of St. Katharine Drexel parish in Chester. The monsignor is charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity — a first-degree felony and the most serious of the charges. In all, the complaint alleges McLoone misappropriated more than $98,000.
McLoone, 56, whose address is listed on the complaint as Downingtown but who is reportedly living with family in Philadelphia and who also owns a home in Ocean City, N.J., is alleged to have stolen $98,405 from St. Joseph’s, the largest parish in Chester County and among the largest in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
“Father McLoone held a position of leadership and his parishioners trusted him to properly handle their generous donations to the church,” said Charles Gaza, chief of staff in the District Attorney’s Office, in announcing the arrest. “Father McLoone violated the trust of the members of St. Joseph’s for his own personal gain.”
McLoone was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Jeffrey Valocchi of Downingtown Wednesday morning. He was released on $50,000 unsecured bail, and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 18.
Attorney Melissa McCafferty of West Chester, who represents McLoone and accompanied him to the arraignment, defended the priest and criticized the D.A.’s Office for filing the charges.
“As usual, the D.A.’s Office has filed charges based on speculation, conjecture and innuendo,” she said in a telephone interview following the arrest. “The charges are so far overreaching. Father Joe looks forward to proving his innocence in court.”
In a statement, the archdiocese, through spokesman Ken Gavin, called the charges “serious and disturbing.”
“The archdiocese and the parish will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as the criminal matter enters its next phase,” according to the statement. “Pending the outcome, Msgr. McLoone remains on administrative leave. Information regarding his arrest will be shared with the St. Joseph parish community.”
One member of the church, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said many in the parish had been waiting for authorities to act after learning months ago about McLoone’s alleged misconduct.
“Finally,” the church member said. “It’s about time. Hearing the details of how our parishioners were taken advantage of breaks my heart. I am relieved to hear that justice will finally be served.”
The investigation into McLoone’s financial dealings by the county detectives began in the spring of 2018, shortly after it was announced at Sunday Mass two weeks after Easter that he had been placed on administrative leave and resigned his position as leader of the parish for alleged misconduct. Questions from parishioners had swirled around the church for some time after he stopped leading services in early
2018.
McLoone was popular with many parishioners, and had been brought in to lead the parish in 2011 by the archdiocese specifically to help calm the roiling waters there caused by the arrest and, later, conviction of Msgr. William Lynn for allegedly protecting priests accused of sexual abuse of children. The conviction eventually was overturned and Lynn awaits retrial.
According to a statement from Msgr. Thomas Dunleavy at the time, McLoone’s misconduct had been two-fold: He had established a private bank account in the name of St. Joseph’s parish that he alone controlled, and into which he funneled more than $110,000 over the course of six years beginning in 2011; and the use of some of those funds — estimated as at least $1,500 — that had gone toward “personal expenses of an inappropriate nature” involving his “relationship with adults.”
Dunleavy pointed out the establishment of the account outside the normal parish finances was in itself a violation of archdiocese protocol. However, he did not detail what those personal relationships involved, other than to say that they were outside of the standards and boundaries of the archdiocese and did not involve members of St. Joseph’s.
Detective Benjamin Martin, a 13year veteran investigator skilled in financial crimes, was assigned to the case in May 2018. Working with auditors from the archdiocese and interviewing McLoone himself at least once, Martin said he learned that McLoone “used his position as pastor to circumvent financial controls and illegally change practices which benefited him financially.”
According to his criminal complaint, Martin said that on Nov. 2,
2011 — coincidentally the first All Soul’s Day when he was pastor at St. Joseph’s — McLoone opened an account at TD Bank which he named the “St. Joseph Activity Account.”
Over the next six years, the defendant diverted approximately
$125,000 in donation checks written to the St. Joseph’s Parish into this account. The sources of these diverted funds included donations for the use of the church and school by community groups, donations from the congregation related to special collections held during Masses, fees paid to the parish for weddings and funerals by those married at the church or holding funeral services for a loved one, and other gifts made out to St. Joseph’s parish. Some money from the account was recovered by authorities.
McLoone also used the activity account to take the entirety of the All Souls’ collection each year and convert checks written out to St. Joseph’s into checks made out to himself and others within the parish, according to the D.A.’s press release. He also took cash that was given by the parishioners for the All Souls celebration and deposited it into his private account between 2011 and 2017.
This account was not disclosed to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia until shortly before McLoone’s removal from St. Joseph’s in early 2018. The total amount taken out of the All Souls’ collection was $39,543.
He created the so-called “activity account” for the purpose of avoiding disclosure of the funds to the diocese and ensuring that nobody at the parish could see what these funds were being spent on, according to the complaint. He used the account as a vehicle for taking the All Souls collection each year.
“The defendant took full advantage of the lack of control over the activity account and used it to fund his personal lifestyle,” according to the release. “His lifestyle included a beach house, travel, dining, and spending on adult men with whom he maintained sexual relationships.” He made money transfers to the men he met on the gay dating website Grindr, using accounts he had set up on Square and J-Pay.
One of those men identified in the complaint was a current inmate at a New York prison. When initially questioned about the man and the payments that he had made to him from October 2013 to February 2014, McLoone said the man had been a parishioner at St. Katharine Drexel in Chester, where he had been pastor before arriving at St. Joseph’s.
But Martin said his investigation showed the man had never been a member of that parish, or even a resident of Pennsylvania. Instead, he lived in New York City and had met McLoone on Grindr. The priest said he and the man had formed a sexual relationship, and he had transferred $1,200 to him while he was in prison.
Additionally, the monsignor supplemented his income by doubling the stipend he collected for celebrating Mass or officiating at weddings and funerals. Overall, he overpaid himself $5,660 for the masses, Martin alleged.
In the affidavit, Martin stated that bank records showed McLoone writing checks from the “activity account” into which the stolen All Souls checks had been deposited to other priests at St. Joseph’s. In all, 15 checks totaling $15,345 were written to the priests, who were not identified in the complaint.
Asked about whether other figures at St. Joseph’s were under investigation, Gaza said they were not.
“Unless we find additional evidence, there are no other charges pending in regards to this case,” Gaza said in an email. “There is no evidence or indication that the priests who received extra funds from Father McLoone knew that it was improper or that (the funds) were stolen. Therefore we would not and could not charge them with receiving stolen property.”
Anyone with further information is urged to contact Martin at 610344-6866. The assigned prosecutor is Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Rice.