A Catholic priest from Pottstown, Pennsylvania was arrested and found guilty of spending more than $40,000 of church funds on Candy Crush, Mario Kart, and other mobile games.
Reverend Lawrence Kozak was previously removed from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2022 due to unauthorized Apple transactions from the church's credit card.
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Pennsylvania Priest Funds Gaming Addiction From Church Money
The charges against the priest have reportedly spanned from September 2019 to July 2022. Kozak was removed from his post in Philadelphia after investigators found a huge amount of Apple transactions that were traced on the church's credit card statements in 2022.
The priest funded his gaming addiction using the church's money in order to power up and advance his progress on his mobile games. He also argued that it was used to gain advantage and not on gambling.
In addition to the Apple ID registered to Kozak, an Amazon account was also linked to the parish credit card. The priest bought a backpack, an Amazon Fire tablet, and a children's chemistry set, which were all sent to his goddaughter in Bensalem.
Priest Defends Unauthorized Spending of Church Funds
Kozak denied the accusations of intentionally spending the money of the parish for his personal transactions. According to him, the credit cards were connected to his phone after purchasing church-authorized streaming and Microsoft Office services.
The priest also told the detectives that he was careless in using the credit cards, citing that he did not pay attention to removing the cards from his accounts.
After the investigation, it was traced that Kozak sent an $8,000 check as parish reimbursement to St. Thomas More after he was removed from his post. An affidavit also revealed that the priest was disappointed and was trying to pay back the money that he owed the church.
Kozak was released after posting $250,000 bail. His attorney assured that the charges are being reviewed and prosecutors will be contacted in the coming days.
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