Angel Fund priest sentenced to 12 months for theft

DETROIT — The Rev. Timothy Kane, convicted of stealing money from the now-discontinued Angel Fund to help the poor of Detroit, was sentenced Monday to 12 months in jail served over five years during the months of June and December plus about eight weekends.

Kane was also sentenced to pay $131,400 in restitution.

Kane begins serving his sentence Tuesday through December in the Wayne County Jail.

A Wayne County Circuit Court jury found Kane guilty in October of six counts related to theft from the charity fund for poor people, including embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000.

Kane, 58, testified that he didn't steal Angel Fund monies, even though he had signed a confession to police after his arrest in February. Kane said he signed the confession because of confusion related to his diabetes.

Before his arrest, Kane led St. Moses the Black parish in Detroit, which included the churches once known as Madonna, St. Gregory and St. Benedict.

Kane, who was ordained a priest in 1982, continued to draw his salary, which is about in the low $30,000 range, after he was removed from the post, said Archdiocese of Detroit spokesman Joe Kohn. That is required under church law as an internal church legal proceeding takes place, said Kohn.

Kohn said he could not reveal the nature of the church inquiry taking place. The archdiocese did not pay for his legal fees, said Kohn.

With an imprisonment, "the salary would be ended," Kohn wrote in an e-mail. The archdiocese "does have an obligation to a priest of any status to provide 'basic support' financially ... enough for room and board. Should prison enter the picture, this becomes moot."

Kane's crimes called for sentences up to 20 years.

He was convicted of conspiracy to operate a criminal enterprise, using a computer to commit a crime, uttering and publishing, and conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000, and conspiracy to embezzle between $1,000 and $20,000.

Prosecutors told the jury that Kane skimmed money for himself from the Angel Fund charity by conspiring with a state prison inmate, who recruited people to make false requests for aid which Kane then approved. Prosecutors contended Kane had a sexual relationship with the inmate, based on taped prison phone calls and Kane's signed confession, but Kane denied it when he took the stand.

Also part of the scheme, authorities said, was a woman, Dorreca Marvie Brewer of Jackson, who was sentenced in October to five years of probation and a $5,000 fine after she plead no contest to similar charges.

The Angel Fund has disbursed $17 million since 2005 from funds donated by an anonymous individual. The fund was designed to allow priests at Detroit churches to dispense aid quickly to people who needed help filling a prescription or making a mortgage payment. After Kane was charged, the Angel Fund donor discontinued the fund.