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Subscribe to RSSA longtime worker for the Archdiocese of New York has been accused of using accounting tricks to steal more than $1 million from the church, law enforcement officials and church leaders said.
Anita Collins was arrested Monday after an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office. She was expected to be arraigned later in the day.
Prosecutors alleged Collins spent $18,000 of the stolen money on furniture from Bloomingdale's; $23,000 on clothing at Barney's; $14,000 on clothing at Brooks Brothers; and $19,000 on trinkets from an Irish gift store.
Collins allegedly engaged in a “sophisticated fraud to manipulate the accounts payable system in the Department of Education Finance Office,” Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York, said in a statement.
Zwilling said Archdiocese officials uncovered what they initially believed to be at least $350,000 in stolen funds and reported their suspicions to the Manhattan DA.
“As a result of the investigation conducted by the Manhattan D.A. and with the full cooperation of the Archdiocese, it has been determined that the amount stolen is approximately $1 million,” Zwilling said.
Collins began working for the Archdiocese in 2003 and was fired Dec. 6 when the alleged fraud was discovered, Zwilling said.
“This defendant is accused of stealing from the Archdiocese for seven and a half long years,” said Vance. “It appears that she only stopped because she finally got caught. I would like to thank the Archdiocese for detecting the initial fraud, referring the matter to my Office, and for its full cooperation throughout the investigation.”
Collins was promoted to manage the Archdiocese finances at the main office after having earlier worked in the education finance office, according to the New York Post.
Police told the Post she allegedly issued 450 checks for phony invoices, each deposited into bank accounts she controlled. The checks allegedly totaled less than $2,500 -- an amount that would trigger a sign-off from a supervisor.
The Bronx woman has a criminal record for grand larceny in 1999 in an earlier job and the Archdiocese never ran a background check on her, the Post reported.
“Sadly, there will always be individuals who seek to exploit and circumvent whatever system is established, but we will remain vigilant in our oversight,” Zwilling said.
Collins remained in jail Monday evening.
Her lawyer's name wasn't immediately available, according to the Associated Press.
The New York Times first reported Collins' arrest.
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Well, maybe the Catholic Church should be accused of theft by deception. Jesus repeatedly told his disciples to give everything to the poor. They shouldn't have that kind of money to begin with, especially when a million of it can disappear almost unnoticed.
The archdiocese of New York is a complete disgrace. Church officials dine on gourmet meas served on fine china and drink out of crystal goblets while their are Catholics in NY that can not even afford to put food on the table. If the archdiocese was a corporation it would rank in the top of the Fortune 500. For a religion whose leaders are supposed to take a vow of poverty, the leadership of the archdiocese of NY live extremely well. The fact that one million dollars could be embezzled without have any impact on their operations only goes to highlight the amount of money the archdiocese has that is not being used to support church programs. I know that the church support a lot of charitable programs, but they could do far more with the amount of money they have/take in. The church needs to stop spending money so that it's leadership can live like royalty and start using that money to help those who are truly in need, the people of NY without food on their table or a roof over their heads.
All she has to do is confess, and she will be forgiven!
That I would like to see, have the Church drop the charges if she confesses. That seemed to be all that was required for the priests that abused the boys. They are closing inner city churches all over the country because they are not getting enough money in the collection baskets to justify the operation in a business sense. Never mind that the poor need a local church more than the middle class. Not taxing a physical church, school or places used to conduct the ministry of the church should bot be taxed. But when there are investments in real estate, corporate stock and any other non church function, they should pay taxes like any business.
So true Softdude and JS! The fact they were $650K off their estimated loss is quite incredible I might add!
I'm stunned at the amount she was able to steal and took them almost seven years to figure it out!?! Don't they ever conduct financial audits? Crazy.
Maybe she can buy an "indugence" from the church and wipe away her sin!!
“Sadly, there will always be individuals who seek to exploit and circumvent whatever system is established, but we will remain vigilant in our oversight,” Zwilling said....
The same could be said about the GOp/TNutBagger Politicians the 1% are so eager to help elect over and over again..
Out of curiosity... Do you think the elected Democrats are part of the 1%?
They cover-up the sins of their pedophile priests for decades but it's a different story when they [the catholic archdiocese] are the victims. What if the AG didn't believe them the way they didn't believe the victims of sexual abuse by their priests?
It just keeps getting better and better for the Catholic's doesn't it? Decades of pedophilia punctuated by embezzlement.
Boy. Talk about a church with a PR problem.
~KARMA IS A B**TCH!~
Softdude, have you ever run a business? ... If the charismatic work of any founder will continue it requires institutionalization. Without an institution, the good that was done, will not be continued. It is easy to criticize and tear down; it is very difficult to build up. What legacy will you leave when you die, Softdude? If you leave any monies for the poor, you'll have to have an executor of the will, deal with law courts, perhaps institute a trust or foundation. Softdude, obviously you do not have a background in the professional world of doing good for others. Try it, you'll like. ... and you'll have to accumulate funds and organize an institution. If you do not do that, you will leave no lasting contribution to society. Softdude, your thinking or lack thereof makes you a Sorrydude.
What I have done, all my life, is try to make the world a better place to live in. My two children are both professionals contributing to the well being of the world. By the Catholic's own test, given to place me in one of their high schools in Cleveland, Ohio, I am in the top one tenth of one percent in the nation. Criticism is intended to point out flaws that should be addressed. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially when you claim to represent Him, should not be much to ask. Yes, we are human and prone to failure, but living the philosophy that you purport to teach is a no brainer. I have already made considerable contributions to this society. The most constructive thing I can say is that only man is mean enough to create hell. If there is a loving God, not one soul will be lost, otherwise, God would have created nothing.
history teacher, stick to teaching history. history teacher, that wasn't much of a business lesson, especially since the Catholic church is a tax-exempt 501c3 non-profit charity, history teacher. history teacher, your teaching or more aptly shallow sophism makes you a pisstory teacher.
Now isn't this great! The Archdiocese of New York drops a dime in a heartbeat on their accountant for stealing, but let's their priests pork little boys for decades and hides THAT from authorities. No wonder the Church is a useless joke.
Like stealing from churches even matter. Churches steal from people all the time, i mean you cant buy faith or buy yer way into heaven.
And the Church has been ripping off patrons for centuries. The circle of life is complete.
.. so WHO else was in on it? You don't Rat-Hole that much dough without someone noticing.
NEVER have a WOMAN as your chief accountant.
They are so OBSESSED with shopping and buying things to make up for whatever reason that they are feeling insecure, that they cannot be trusted.
And, EVERY SINGLE ONE of these EXCUSES will be brought up, when they get caught... and it only takes one bat-sh*t crazy woman on the jury, to hang the jury, or drive the other jurors crazy until they give her a slap on the wrist instead of the sentence that she deserves.
It happens every single day.
I just saw a woman get 5 years for voluntary manslaughter because the women on the jury wouldn't convict her for 1st degree murder. She came up with so many excuses; none of which were legitimate, but to the emotional women on the jury... they were enough. And this was the second trial, as the women on at the first trial hung the jury and didn't even want to convict her of anything. She stabbed her boyfriend to death when he told her to get out.
Hmmm. kinda like preists sticking together.
Great analogy.
not just women its people in general are greedy.... That was alot of effort to stretch something both genders do into something sexist.... someone has a inferiority complex.
In my experience women are much harder on each other than they are on men.
Hopefully they will practice what they preach and forgive her and let her go.
Sure, like they preach abstinence and rape alter boys?
Nah.
I hear that the woman has already been interviewed by the present administration, as head of the I.R.S. She'll get hired. It's just a simple matter of who she will have to pay off first. Word has it that Biden has already been hounding her daily.
Say three hail Mary's and call the Pope's accountant.
I hope they get robbed of every penny they ever stole and CONTINUE to steal.
Send the proceeds to the "Abused Alter Boy Fund".
LMAO
What a opity she didn't steal more.
There was a similar story yesterday in the Philly papers where the CFO of the Phila. archdiocese stole $1 million over 7 years for her gambling trips to AC. She financed everything on her AMEX card and it was AMEX who uncovered the fraud.
I guess it's the new trend.
Phil Katz, I thought the headline was a mistake placing this theft in NY. I was certain that it was about the embezzlement in Philly. I cannot believe that the lack of internal controls is was only in NY and Philly. Both of these stories should spur investigations across the country. There are similarities here that are alarming. The use of women in such positions who may not be totally qualified is an issue. Where they chosen because it was assumed they could be controlled? Who makes the hiring decisions?
We had a priest here in Vega$ who just got 52 months for whacking this diocese for 640k in a 6 year period.
Seems his favorite altar was whichever video poker machine he was closest to.
Let this be a lesson to all you video poker players out there,if a priest with an unlimited amount of money can't win at those machines you don't have a chance in hell of doing it either.
Evil woman killer, Adrienne Hickson, gets away with murder as female jurists won't convict her of anything.
hxxtp://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_77889.asp
This case was on "Snapped" the jury convicted her on something because she was given 5 years in prison and 15 years probation.
Totally correct. But what percentage of fundamentalist Christians practice those preachings?
Its called Karma. The church has been stealing money from people for over a thousand years. Even Mother Theresa wasn't above it. I think its ingrained in organizations that wrap themselves in the sanctity of God. Mama T refused to give back money to the heir of a woman who was obviously incompetent. The greed and avarice of the church is all too obvious by its trappings, when many of its followers live in poverty. Pure hypocrisy.
If it's anything to do with money you can bet the catholic church will find it.
As for pedophile priests they try to cover that up.
The church is a construct of humans.It is flawed.Like our country.We should abandon both right?Maybe the world is better with both.It is hard to imagine a history that didn't include the church.The church begat protestantism which begat the USA,you could say.
Smile......The Lord givith and he sure can taketh away. Damm, thats what has happen to all of my Sunday change!