Accountant guilty of stealing from church

Published: Oct. 2, 2007 at 9:22 PM

CLEVELAND, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A former accountant for the Roman Catholic diocese of Cleveland was convicted Tuesday for helping another official steal $784,000.

A jury in federal court determined Anton Zgoznik paid the money illegally in kickbacks to Joseph Smith, the diocese’s former chief financial officer, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. Smith is scheduled to be tried separately.

Zgoznik claimed during the trial he was making payments that had been authorized to the Rev. John Wright, who had been Smith’s predecessor as chief financial officer and his supervisor. But prosecutors presented a secretly recorded conversation between Zgoznik and a former business partner in which he told Zrino Jukic they had to say Wright wanted a “confidential payroll” for key diocesan executives.

Jurors found Zgoznik guilty on all counts of conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
BA and Iberia move close to a deal (19 min)
Leukemia med may also fight ovarian cancer (20 min)
Eye response may reveal autism (20 min)
Neurological disease drug target found? (26 min)
Oil supplies rise in week (35 min)
CDC: Highest rate of smoking in W. Va. (44 min)
Climate change, California droughts linked (48 min)
fark
Woman wins $1M McDonalds Monopoly prize. Plans to use winnings on new house, car, angioplasty
You went full North by Northwest, dude. Never go full North by Northwest
Not news: ex-soldier finds a gun in his garden - Still not news: man hands gun into police - Fark:...
Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yeah, Bow wow yippie yo yippie yeah (c)
Welcome to the internet, where men are men, women are men, and that 14 year old girl you're propositioning...
Using only a cell phone and a pelican, man turns his $2 Million Bugatti into a submarine