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NEW HAVEN, Conn., July 6, 2010

Priest Stole $1M for Male Escorts, Cops Say

Conn. Priest Charged with Stealing $1.3 Million in Church Money to Use for Male Escorts, Expensive Clothing and Luxury Hotels



This July 6, 2010 booking photo released by the Waterbury, Conn., police department shows the Rev. Kevin Gray, 64, former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, who has been charged with stealing more than $1 million in parish funds to use for male escorts, expensive clothing and luxury hotels and restaurants. (AP Photo)

(CBS/ AP) A Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut was charged Tuesday with stealing $1.3 million in church money over seven years to use for male escorts, expensive clothing and luxury hotels and restaurants.

The Rev. Kevin J. Gray, former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny, Waterbury police said. Arraignment was expected Tuesday in Waterbury Superior Court.

Gray, 64, used the money to stay at such hotels as the Waldorf-Astoria and on expensive clothing labels including Armani suits and Brooks Brothers, said Capt. Christopher Corbett. He also paid the college tuition and rent of two men he had met, Corbett said.

Telephone messages were left at Sacred Heart and at the office of Gray's public defender. "We are deeply saddened by the events which have recently had such a profound affect on Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon parish," the Archdiocese of Hartford said in a statement.

"At the financial level, the archdiocese continues to work with the parish to improve its financial controls and to address issues arising from the situation such as insurance coverage and outstanding indebtedness," the statement said. "At the spiritual level, we continue to pray for healing and consolation for the parish family as it moves forward and for guidance and reconciliation for Father Gray as he encounters the legal proceedings that await him."

The archdiocese last month asked police to investigate after it discovered during a financial review Gray may have taken more than a million dollars for personal use. The money involved a combination of parish savings and money that should have been used to pay certain debts, such as insurance premiums, church officials have said.

Gray was Sacred Heart's pastor from January 2003 until April 15, when he was granted a medical leave.

Now, the Archdiocese said it is looking into whether claims Gray made about being sick were even true, reports CBS affiliate WFSB. When the Archdiocese asked for records that were missing over those years, Gray said he fell behind because he was sick.

He was later suspended.

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