DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A priest in Delray Beach, Fla., is at the center of an investigation into his handling of a $330,000 bequest by a famed hat designer.
The Palm Beach Post reported that the Rev. John Skehan of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church was responsible for controlling the bequest left by Lilly Dache after her death in 1989.
The Dache bequest is just one of many of financial transactions handled by Skehan during his four decades at the church, the Post said, and dozens are now being investigated.
The Diocese of Palm Beach has hired investigators and auditors to examine alleged diversions of millions of dollars of the church's money by Skehan and his successor, Rev. Francis B. Guinan, the Post reported.
Dache, a French-born hat designer who moved to the United States as a teenager, became one of the world's most famous designer of hats, creating famous fedoras, fruit-laden hats and turbans, some of which are at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
