Belleville Diocese Reveal $144,000 Theft

BELLEVILLE - A part-time bookkeeper with a gambling problem, who embezzled $144,000 from St. Patrick Catholic Church in East St. Louis, will be allowed to repay the money instead of being prosecuted, a Belleville Diocese official said Thursday.

And the parish priest, the Rev. Clyde Grogan, is under investigation by the diocese after a financial review over the last two weeks found that an additional $75,000 of $85,000 that was spent over several years cannot be accounted for from a charity fund that he alone controlled.