U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
District of Connecticut

United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut

Press Release

December 4, 2007

FORMER DARIEN PRIEST SENTENCED TO MORE THAN THREE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR STEALING PARISH FUNDS

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL JUDE FAY, the former pastor of St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Darien, Connecticut, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 37 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. On September 12, 2007, FAY pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud arising from his multi-year scheme to use funds donated to the Parish for personal use.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, FAY was employed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport and served as the pastor at St. John's Church in Darien from 1991 to 2006. FAY's responsibilities included ensuring that monies provided to St. John's by parishioners be maintained for the benefit of the Parish and its parishioners.

In pleading guilty, FAY admitted that he used parishioners' contributions to the Parish to fund personal expenses, including trips to Europe, the Caribbean, and other parts of the United States. From 1999 to 2006, FAY used two bank accounts, the existence of which he did not disclose to the Parish Finance Council, to deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars of parishioner contributions that he later used for his personal benefit. FAY also admitted that, in March 2006, he instructed an employee of the Parish to transfer $34,000 from a Parish bank account in Connecticut to his personal bank account at Wachovia Bank in Florida. The $34,000 represented Parish funds that were needed to pay Parish expenses including salaries of Parish employees. Immediately after the $34,000 was transferred to FAY's personal account at Wachovia Bank, FAY admitted that he caused these funds to be transferred in interstate commerce to a company in Pennsylvania. The $34,000 represented part of a $39,558 down payment for the purchase by FAY of a Philadelphia condo.

According to court documents, FAY obtained $1,306,970 during the seven-year scheme. After crediting FAY for restitution that he already has paid his victims, Judge Arterton today ordered FAY to pay further restitution in the amount of $1,027,989.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Diocese of Bridgeport and St. John's Parish officials. The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Richard J. Schechter.