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Father Richard Storey is accused of using a church credit card to steal funds over a four year period.
Storey was most recently the pastor of Curé of Ars Catholic Church outside of Overland, Kansas
Stories of religious leaders stealing funds for gambling purposes is sadly nothing new, as Gambling911.com has long documented over the years
A Leawood, Kansas priest is accused of stealing approximately $160,000 from his parish.
Father Richard Storey was most recently the pastor of Curé of Ars Catholic Church, approximately a half hour outside of Kansas City and ten minutes from Overland Park, Kansas.
He served as pastor there beginning in 2015 and remained in that role until his resignation in September 2025.
Storey is alleged to have stolen the money, mostly via the parish credit card, over a four year period to gamble and fuel and luxurious lifestyle that included excursions throughout Europe, none of which were church-related.
He was arrested by the Leawood Police Department on May 23 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Archdiocese is fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to respect the investigative process.
They issued the following statement:
“This news is deeply painful for all of us in the Catholic community, particularly given the nature of the allegations involving resources entrusted to the Church through the sacrifice and generosity of the faithful,” Archbishop Shawn McKnight said. “My primary concern at this time is for the people of Curé of Ars parish and all those directly affected. I am grateful for Father Riley’s steady leadership and care for this community during this difficult time. These allegations are serious, the legal processes must be allowed to proceed, and Father Storey is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law or internal canonical process. I recognize there will be differing emotions and perspectives within the community in the days ahead, and I ask parishioners to treat one another with greater sensitivity, patience, charity, and respect as we move through this together, trusting that with faith in Christ, our community can emerge stronger and more united.”
Cardinals, Cash, and Casinos: Priests Face Gambling Claims
This wouldn't be the first time a priest has gambled with church funds.
A Philadelphia Monsignor William A. Dombrow confessed to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert that he siphoned funds from a private account set up to support Villa St. Joseph in Darby Borough as a means to pay off gambling debts, purchase elaborate dinners and secure concert tickets to the Philly Pops. He pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud back in 2017. The amount alleged to have been stolen was $535,000.
Dombrow was overseeing a retirement home for priests.
Then there was Father John Regan. He served as a pastor at St. Walter Parish in Illinois nearly 20 years, from 1989 to 2008. While there he created a “Special Needs” account that went towards funding his addiction.
Father Regan had made some 400 ATM withdrawals that the bank eventually traced to a riverboat casino.
“I’m a compulsive gambler, and what I did was absolutely wrong…I wasted a huge sum of my parish’s money on this gambling addiction…Every day was a good day to go to the casino, and that’s the insidious nature of the disease I have. I can’t imagine anybody wanting to do what I’ve done,” explained a tearful Regan.
Later commenting on the case, Assistant State’s Attorney Helen Kapas said:
“That a person could do this to their own church is unthinkable, unimaginable and unbelievable. There will be different judgment days for John Regan, but today is a day for justice in DuPage County.”
Nun Better? Sisters Accused of Gambling Away Funds
Two nuns who worked for decades at a Catholic school in California were accused of embezzling a “substantial” amount of money from tuition and other funds and used the stolen money to pay for gambling trips to Las Vegas in 2018.
The embezzlement from Saint James Catholic School in Torrance had gone on for as long as 10 years.
During that time Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was the school’s principal and Sister Lana Chang taught eighth grade students. Both retired earlier that year.
Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was criminally charged by federal prosecutors in 2021. She was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
She would later plead guilty and was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in federal prison.
Sister Lana Chang was never criminally charged.
Gambling Rabbi Tries His Luck With Fake Identity at Casino He Was Self-Excluded From
Then there was Rabbi Michael Sternfield.
In 2013, Rabbi Sternfield stepped down from his pulpit at one of Chicago's most prominent Reform synagogues following a years-long battle with gambling addiction. He had served as rabbi there for nearly two decades and as a rabbi for 44 years.
Sternfield had previously placed himself on an Indiana casino's self-exclusion list because of his gambling addiction.
He later returned to the casino, allegedly using another person's identification to gain entry. After winning a jackpot, casino personnel discovered he was banned from the property and that he had allegedly used false identification. He was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal trespass and an identity theft-related offense referred to as "identity deception".
"If I've learned anything from these years of struggling, I've learned how terribly painful addictions of all kinds are and how incredibly difficult many are to get rid of," Sternfield said in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune. "This is a chapter of my life that I regret so very deeply and which is painful for those close to me."
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
