Catholic Charities: former employees stole $1.7 million
MILWAUKEE - Police say employees helped steal more than $1 million from Catholic Charities in Milwaukee.
Search warrants showed why investigators believe a group of people stole more than $1 million from Catholic Charities.
Some of them were employees.
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The nonprofit said they've since fired those people.
Catholic Charities offers counseling, adoption services and help for refugees and immigrants, among other work.
Court documents say the organization's then-finance director fabricated "Vendors" and paid them with official checks from Catholic Charities.
The investigation identified six other people, including two now-former employees, plus fake vendors that never actually did work for the organization.
Investigators say some people got checks as high as $15,000.
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Court documents say this goes back as far as 2016. But Catholic Charities said the fraud was most active in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
The organization estimates its losses from those years alone are roughly $1.7 million.
"As disheartening as this news is, we want to be clear that no programs or services were affected," Rev. David H. Reith said in a statement on behalf of Catholic Charities.
Catholic Charities has since hired someone else to head up their finances.