Manitoba 2009
The former pastor of St. Augustine of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church pleaded guilty to the crimes of theft, break-and-enter.
The former priest, Raju Madanu, had been charged with breaking and entering and theft of monies ranging from $20,000 to $54,000 as reported by Rev. Dominic Yuen. The money had been gathered in support of Tanzanian orphans. Rev. Dominic Yuen had been Fr. Raju’s former boss.
Yuen states that Madanu had been well liked and respected by the congregation and had been working there for 2 years.
The theft occurred between the dates of February 4 to June 29. The judge ordered a full account of the exact money and where it had ended up. The court date is set for December 22.
Yuen had thought that the decrease in donations from the parishioners had been due to the recession, however, one day, one of the parishioners brought to his attention that three $20 bills had been on the top of the collection basket. The following day when she checked again they were gone. She brought this to Yuen’s attention and Yuen carefully watched the collections for that weekend.
Upon initial counting of the money and then following counting of the money, it was noted that a significant amount was missing. Once realizing what was happening, that money was being stolen, Yuen contacted their alarm company to see if he could ascertain what was happening. The company was able to provide him with information that for the past 12 months, a pattern emerged: every following Monday of the weekend services, the alarm was temporarily deactivated between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Yuen then brought this to the police who set up an operation to catch the thief. In June they marked bills, and waited in their cars between the hours of 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. when they knew the alarm would be deactivated. That is when they caught Madanu with the money.
Madanu admitted to his crime though he did not apologize for it. He is currently out on bail, waiting for his sentencing.
Update:
According to ChrisD.ca the final amount of money stolen from St. Augustine of Canterbury Church was $13, 200 and Raju Madanu was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest.
It was discovered that Madanu had been taking the money and sending it to his family members overseas, however, some of the money did go to farmers and orphans in India and Tanzania.
The theft occurred between February 4 to June 29.