You are here
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO: Court Says Anglican Rector must repay $100,000. Gets Four Years Probation for Misdemeanor
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
February 25, 2011
A judge has sentenced the rector of St. George's Anglican Church to four years probation and says he must repay $100,000 and do 400 hours of community service for a misdemeanor theft of funds.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Gregory R. Werner ordered The Rev. Don Armstrong to pay restitution in the amount of $99,247 that was diverted to pay for his son's and daughter's college education. The money came from a trust fund originally set up to pay for the education of seminary students.
The judge rejected a request by a special prosecutor to order Armstrong to repay Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church an additional $191,753 in church funds that also were spent on his children's education.
The court determined that the rector of Grace & St. Stephens Church should have managed the trust better. "I admit I was wrong. It will cost me $100.000," he told VOL.
Commenting on the judge's decision, Armstrong said he thought the legal system had produced a correct verdict and that he is sorry for his fiduciary sloppiness.
Armstrong founded the new church in March 2007 after the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado suspended him from Grace & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and later defrocked him over the theft allegations.
The sentence imposed was less than what several members of the congregation had sought. Several of them expressed relief that they had finally reached the end of a series of legal battles that began when the allegations of misuse of funds first surfaced in 2006.
END
NOTE: There was an error in my original story. Fr. Armstrong was not fined. He had to repay the $100,000. We regret the error and have corrected the story.
