Ex-religious brother pleads guilty to stealing U.S. church money, agrees to return $220,000 he stole
A former religious brother reached a deal to plead guilty and repay money amounting to $220,000 that he stole from a Pennsylvania church for several years.
Thomas Ross, formerly known as Brother Ambrose, 62, appeared in court on Tuesday and agreed to waive a preliminary hearing on charges that he stole money from the Good Samaritan Catholic Church in Ambridge, the Associated Press reports.
Ross served for 20 years at the church as music and liturgy director and fundraising coordinator, according to KDKA.
His lawyer worked out a plea deal with the District Attorney's office.
"Mr. Ross will be on house arrest for a period of time and he will have to make a serious amount of restitution in this case," said defence attorney Chad Bowers.
According to Bowers, Ross "has been very remorseful for it, and he has tried everything up until this point in his power to make amends."
Surveillance cameras at the church showed Ross taking money from the collection box. At least $220,000 in cash was allegedly stolen over nine years.
Ross played at the Rivers Casino where he had nearly $3 million in transactions over five years at a time when his yearly salary was $28,000.
Bowers said that it's obvious that Ross has a gambling addiction.
An audit revealed that from 2012 to 2015, $24,432 was missing from loose weekly collections and $141,981 from parishioner envelope contributions.
From 2006 to 2015, a total of $54,282 was missing from votive candle contributions.
Ross was charged with third-degree felonies of theft, receiving stolen property and a third-degree misdemeanor of receiving stolen property.
"It's been a tough time but God has been good to us, and our parishioners are just wonderful," said Rev. Joe Carr of the Good Samaritan Parish in Ambridge.
Father Carr said they have implemented measures to prevent the crime from happening again.
"As soon as we realised there was some sort of an issue, we started doing all kinds of things to make sure the money was secure. But that's been an ongoing process for well over a year," he said.
