Priest charged with stealing $143,000 from Swissvale parish Thursday, September 08, 2011 By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Allegheny County district attorney's office today charged a Swissvale priest with pocketing more than $143,000 in church funds over the course of more than a decade.
The Rev. Francis J. Drabiska, 50, of the Word of God Parish told investigators that between 1999 and 2009, he stole as much as $180,000 in loose cash from the church collections, which he said he used "to live a lifestyle beyond his means," according to a criminal complaint.
