A criminal information filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas charges Father Thomas H. Leland with bank fraud. The court issued a summons for a Sept. 23 initial appearance.
Leland was assigned in 2010 as the sole priest at St. Francis Parish in St. Paul and St. Ambrose Parish in Erie, both located in southeast Kansas.
Court records do not show a defense attorney, and church officials had no contact information for him.
Feds charge Kansas priest with bank fraud over parish thefts | Local News - Home
See also: Priest charged with bank fraud had told Wichita diocese about misuse of funds
He is accused of:
▪ Taking overpayments of stipends for conducting Mass, totaling $2,063.
▪ Taking advances and overpayments of $138,200 on his salary.
▪ Taking unauthorized reimbursements of personal expenses worth $10,656.
Jim Cross, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, wouldn’t say whether Leland gambled online or in person at a casino or other establishment.
The estimated loss to the diocese is $150,919.
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