Pennsylvania
Police: Pennsylvania priest spent $41K in parish funds on phone games
The complaint revealed that an archdiocesan official observed incorrect coding in the parish’s financial records. The subsequent review revealed “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” in the parish books.
According to the parish records, nearly 2,200 transactions were related to a category of spending identified as “gaming.” The total amount spent in that category was just under $41,000.
Among the games purchased using parish funds were Candy Crush, Pokemon GO, and several “slots” games.
In an interview with law enforcement as part of the investigation, Kozak said he “didn’t realize when he went past the balance on his Apple Card [that] the charges were kicked over to the parish card,” the complaint said.
The priest “expressed that he’s disappointed that he let it get like this and that there’s no excuse except that he wasn’t paying attention and should have been.”
Law enforcement in 2023 met with the new pastor of the Pottstown parish who said that Kozak had paid the parish roughly $41,000 in “reimbursement” after he was put on leave.