Priest caught stealing from church to buy drugs for gay sex parties
Father Francesco Spagnesi is accused of misappropriating more than $100,000 in church funds.
An Italian priest has been accused of stealing more than $117,000 in church funds and parishioner donations to buy drugs for gay sex parties.
Father Francesco Spagnesi, 40, has been placed under house arrest while police interview 200 people who reportedly attended sex parties in Prato, which Spagnesi hosted.
The Times reports that the Roman Catholic priest was busted by police after his roommate imported a liter of the “date-rape” drug GHB from the Netherlands.
He is accused of using dating sites to invite people to the sex parties, as well as the sale and consumption of drugs, with police reporting that bottles were found in Spagnesi’s home that had been adapted for smoking crack cocaine.
In addition to the drug bust, an accountant found withdrawals by Spagnesi from the parish bank account totaling more than $100,000. The parish bishop terminated Spagnesi’s access to the account, while police investigate whether the funds were used to purchase drugs.
After his access to the account was terminated, Spagnesi is accused of stealing from the church’s collection plate as well as asking parishioners for money, under the guise of donations to raise funds for the area’s low-income families.
Spagnesi is accused of abusing his status in the parish and parishioner’s trust in him to obtain donations of more than $1,700, La Nazione reports.
The parishioners have now launched legal action against Spagnesi to reclaim their money, stating that they had donated due to having “had great faith in their young, brilliant, all-involving and refined priest.”
Spagnesi has yet to be formally charged. His attorney, Constanza Malerba, said that Spagnesi had admitted to supplying drugs at his sex parties and would soon confess to taking church funds.
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