Cops: Priests kept secret accounts for the good life [View All]

[Herman Munster]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15646208.htm

DELRAY BEACH - Detectives on Friday served more search warrants and uncovered more secret bank accounts as they continued to pore over the financial records of two South Florida priests alleged to have mishandled $8.6 million in church donations.

''The dollar amount is constantly changing,'' Detective Thomas Whatley said.

A 15-month investigation by Whatley and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement came to a head Wednesday night when they charged former St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church pastors John Skehan and Francis B. Guinan with grand theft over $100,000.

Skehan and Guinan are believed to have diverted millions of dollars from collection plates and other donations to the church during the past 42 years.

Guinan, ordained in 1966, served at Epiphany, St. Michael the Archangel and St. Hugh in the Miami area from 1969 to 1975, according to the Diocese of Palm Beach. He also was pastor of Christ the King in Perrine in the early 1980s.