Priest stole $260K in church donations and laundered money, South Dakota officials say
.jpg "Marcin Garbacz, former Catholic priest in Rapid City, South Dakota, was sentenced to prison after he was convicted of stealing church donations, officials say. Photo by Getty Images")
A Catholic priest convicted of stealing nearly $260,000 in church donations is going to prison.
Marcin Stanislaw Garbacz, former priest in Grand Rapids, South Dakota, was found guilty of stealing the cash from bank bags in the church and spending it on gold-plated chalices, bronze statues, a diamond ring, grand piano and Montblanc fountains pens, officials say.
A federal judge sentenced Garbacz to seven years and nine months in prison at a Monday hearing. In March, a jury convicted him of 50 counts of wire fraud, nine counts of money laundering, transportation of stolen money and five counts of false tax returns.
At the sentencing hearing, Garbacz apologized for harming parishioners while he was angry at the church in part because of its teachings on homosexuality, the Rapid City Journal reported. Garbacz said he “disagreed with the institution” and felt treated like a “second-class citizen,” the newspaper reported.
U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons said in a statement that Garbacz violated the trust of parishioners and other priests.
“Marcin Garbacz not only betrayed the parishioners, he betrayed his fellow priests, so he could carry out his vendetta against the Catholic Church,” Parsons said.
Now the 42-year-old will turn attention to child sex crime charges in a separate case. An indictment unsealed in federal court last week accuses Garbacz of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a child in 2011 and possession of child pornography from 2011 to 2019.
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Priest stole $260K in church donations and laundered money, South Dakota officials say."