Gregory Allen Madeya wore a cassock and enjoyed the trust of an entire community. For years, while celebrating Mass at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, he secretly diverted money from collections, rent and donations that never made it into the parish accounts.
The most unsettling part was not just the amount: 750.000 dollars in total, according to Attorney General Dave Sunday. It was who else he chose as a victim. Nearly 250.000 dollars came from his own mother’s investment accounts. She was an elderly woman who ended up being evicted from several nursing homes for nonpayment, while her son used that money to buy a 2018 Ford Mustang from a man who lived with him.
Investigators also linked him to an attempt to sell a gold chalice from the church, valued at 19.440 dollars. He now faces serious charges of fraud and financial exploitation and remains in Westmoreland County Jail, unable to pay his 25.000-dollar bail.