EXCLUSIVE: Man accused of stealing from 80-year-old nun
MOUNT PLEASANT (WITI) -- Harry Fumich is accused of stealing money from an 80-year-old nun -- and that man's father says he is a victim of a poor criminal justice system.
Sister Acheson volunteers at the St. Luke's Hospitality Center in Racine every Thursday.
As a nun, she has devoted the past 20 years of her life to help others. When she met 46-year-old Harry Fumich on April 4th, she had no reservations about lending him some cash.
"They just need companionship and sometimes to get in out of the weather. The stories he gave me were so believable and I am gullible and I really and truly believed everything he said. It was so detailed and so bizarre about his life. None of which I found out later was true," Sister Acheson said.
She says Fumich described a life in the military and a need to get to Tomah to pick up a check. However, he told her it would take $400 to get him there.
"That was the beginning of it. It went on from there until it was up to a much larger amount," Sister Acheson said.
The 80-year-old nun says Fumich got $1,100 from her. She says it wasn't until he stole the last $300 that she realized he had been lying all along.
That's when she called his father.
"His father said, 'oh no he's done it again. He's done this many times and he is, he could sell the Brooklyn Bridge,'" Sister Acheson said.
"He is a victim of that system, no kidding. It's just wrong," William Fumich said.
FOX6 News caught up with Fumich at his Racine home. While he doesn't defend his son's actions, he describes a man who has been in and out of prison since he was 13. He believes the corrections system essentially forced his son to be a criminal.
"Teach him something. You can't put a person in a cell and expect them to learn anything," Fumich said.
Sister Acheson says she doesn't hold any ill will against Fumich.
"I told my son that it was so stupid of me. He said 'Mom, you were being good. It's the other guy that was bad and I know that," Sister Acheson said.