PORTLAND — Police are investigating a case in which someone raided the fund that pays for the health care for all of Maine’s active and retired Roman Catholic priests.
It may be the city’s biggest embezzlement case in 12 years.
“Right now, a conservative estimate of this total may be upwards of several hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood said Wednesday.
The investigation is targeting The Longview Group, a South Portland insurance agency that manages the fund. Chitwood wouldn’t name suspects but said the agency’s owner, Sally Nelson, is not involved.
“The person who we’re targeting … had access to [the money],” Chitwood said.
Chitwood said police suspect the money was stolen through a fictitious or inflated insurance claim. He said he believed the scheme had been going on for seven years.
Nelson had no comment. Carl Tourigny, her attorney, confirmed the investigation into the potential embezzlement.
Marc Mutty, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, said he did not yet know how much was taken but said retirement benefits for priests would not be affected. The potential effect on priests who need health care is unknown, he said.
The fund managed by The Longview Group pays 20 percent of priests’ medical expenses and the rest is covered by an insurance company, Mutty said.
Chitwood said church officials discovered the problem when payments for false claims were delivered to the diocese headquarters in Portland. Church officials contacted police Friday.
Chitwood said gathering evidence such as computer and financial records could take as long as a month.
The Portland Police Department took the case because the victim — the diocese — is based in Portland, and because The Longview Group was located in Portland until recently.
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