Grand Theft Arch Diocese

He says that he's sorry, that's cute really. Someone should make a video game where the main character is a philandering priest who steals from his parishioners, has rowdy sex with prostitutes on Sunday mornings before mass and absolves the horrific crimes of mobsters and corporate white collar criminals. that would be hot.

Priest confesses to stealing $1.6M

By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 27, 2005, 3:19 PM CDT

A former pastor of a Southwest Side Catholic church pleaded guilty today to stealing $1.6 million from the parish. He also finished paying back the money and was sentenced to four years in prison. "I'm very, very deeply sorry for all that's happened," Rev. Brian Lisowski told Cook County Criminal Judge Kenneth Wadas. The theft, Lisowski said, "has hurt so many people who put their trust in me and the church." Lisowski resigned from St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church, 8200 S. Kostner Ave., in July 2004 after police found him with an alleged prostitute. He subsequently admitted having stolen money from the parish the previous five years.

The defendant initially was charged with felony money laundering and theft from a school or place of worship. He could have been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison if convicted of both counts. In a plea agreement filed in court today, prosecutors dropped the theft charge, and Lisowski pleaded guilty to money laundering. The defendant today also finished making full restitution by delivering a final, $427,177 payment for the church.

Wadas sentenced Lisowski to four years, the minimum for a money laundering conviction. He could have been sentenced to up to 15 years. Prosecutors previously have said the theft scheme began after Lisowski came to St. Bede in 1999. They said the priest secretly installed a safe in a bedroom wall of the church's rectory, separate from the main church safe, and skimmed $2,500 to $3,000 a week from weekend mass collections, raffles and wedding and funeral donations.

He tried to cover his tracks by making false entries in the church's accounting books and by exchanging coins and small-denomination currency for hundred-dollar bills and later converting the cash into money orders. Over five years, Lisowski made trips to the bank at least once a week, depositing nearly $450,000 into several checking and money-market accounts. Prosecutors said one person, a "close female friend," received $262,000 from Lisowski.

After Lisowski resigned in July 2004, church officials became suspicious when they noticed a surge in the church's coffers compared with the period he was there. The Chicago Archdiocese's Financial Services Department investigated and confronted Lisowski with the skimming allegations. After he reportedly admitted to the theft, Lisowski led church officials to a safe-deposit box in an Evergreen Park bank containing nearly $400,000 in hundred-dollar bills, prosecutors said. Church officials reported they also discovered Lisowski's bedroom safe, which held $50,000 in paper currency and $600 in coins.

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