A judge has postponed a mid-August trial for a priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million from a parish in Okemos, in central Michigan, part of the Diocese of Lansing.
Fr Jonathan Wehrle was facing trial on August 13, but his attorney in the criminal case told the Lansing State Journal he was withdrawing, prompting the judge to push the trial to January 2019 to give new defence attorneys time to prepare, the newspaper said.
According to the newspaper, the announcement from Fr Wehrle's attorney came after Michigan State Police said in a news release that investigators from its Special Investigation Section discovered more than $63,000 in cash stashed above the ceiling tiles of the basement of the priest's home in July. A subsequent news release from Michigan State Police says officers found the words "For deposit only – St Martha Parish and School," the name of the parish where he served from 1988 until June 2017, on the cash bundles.
