MORRISTOWN - The former pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Randolph who stole $360,000 from its coffers to help a male lover and others was sentenced on Friday to five years' probation and 250 hours of community service.
The Rev. William M. Naughton, 61, formerly the pastor of the Resurrection Church in Randolph, has paid back $136,227 of the stolen money. Now living in a retirement community for priests, Naughton told Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone that he will work to replenish the parish funds he stole.
"I'm deeply grieved and truly sorry for any pain that my actions caused and have led to this day," Naughton told the Daily Record of Parsippany. I remain determined to make total restitution for however long that may take."
Defense lawyer Peter N. Gilbreth said that the former pastor entered into a rocky romance with lover Harold B. Reid III decades ago - one that led Naughton to steal from the church to help Reid and others.
The judge ordered Naughton to perform his 250 hours of community service at Straight and Narrow Inc., a program for drug abusers and people with AIDS run by an agency of the Diocese of Paterson. Naughton was removed from his post in 2001 by the diocese when the Randolph church's funds went missing.
To repay the money he pilfered, Naughton sold out his interest in a condominium and has been working as a clerk at a law firm, Gilbreth said.
Naughton was removed from his post in 2001 by now-retired Bishop Frank Rodimer of the Diocese of Paterson, who sent Naughton to counseling instead of alerting the authorities.
21
posted on
12/18/2005 10:04:54 PM PST
by
Coleus
(Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
22
posted on
12/18/2005 10:08:25 PM PST
by
Coleus
(Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)