Taking $370K from Winnipeg church nets jail time for former admin

A former administrator at the St.Bernadette Parishwho admitted to defrauding the Winnipeg church of $370,000has been sentenced to 22 months in jail.

Leo McCaughan, 41, previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000.

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Judge Fred Sandhu said McCaughan's rehabilitative efforts since his arrest justified a reduction from the accepted two- to three-year sentencing range for such crimes.

Court heard McCaughan had shown true remorse, paid back all the money he stole and has undergone extensive counselling, paid for by the parish.

"I don't know what more he could do," Sandhu said.

McCaughan was the financial administrator with the Windsor Park-area church between March 2009 and December 2011 when on 176 occasions he pocketed church funds for his own personal use.

'Advance' on an inheritance

McCaughan wrote 112 cheques to himself and recorded them in a church ledger as charitable donations or fees for services such as snow removal for the church.

On other occasions he took money from church donation envelopes, including money earmarked for a church building fund.

McCaughan used the money to finance lavish international vacations, buy gifts for friends, pay off his mortgage and buy RRSPs.

When people questioned McCaughan about his new lifestyle, he claimed he had received an "advance" on an inheritance.

This was acting out, not so much against the church, but against the man who wronged him.- defence lawyerSaulSimmonds

Defence lawyer Saul Simmonds had argued"exceptional circumstances" in the case should spare his client from serving jail time.Simmonds said McCaughan's crimes were a response to being sexually preyed upon by a priest when he was in his late 20s.

"This was acting out, not so much against the church, but against the man who wronged him,"Simmondssaid at a sentencing hearing last month. "This is not somebody who acted out without anger, though the anger was misplaced, I accept that."

Sandhusaid the court was provided no factual basis to support the abuse allegations.

"Even if true, I don't find that a fully functioning adult male could be groomed like a child,"Sandhusaid.

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A church spokesman said the sentence was "a fair and appropriate response to the crime."

"It has been a challenge for us [as an] organization to bring about the healing that is necessary," saidArchdiocese of Saint-Bonifacefinancial administrator Richard Frechette.

Frechettesaid the parish is more concerned with rehabilitating McCaughanthan punishing him.

"I think we have to look past vengeance and go towards forgiveness and reconciliation, not only for [McCaughan], but for our own parish," Frechettesaid.