BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer
The alleged theft of more than $2 million has resulted in a 27-count grand jury indictment for the Rev. Joseph Hughes, former pastor of Holy Cross Church, Rumson.
According to a press release issued by Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye’s office, the Monmouth County grand jury handed down the indictment last Monday charging Hughes, 60, with the theft of $2,032,422, from Holy Cross Catholic Church, where Hughes had been pastor since 1988.
The indictment includes eight second-degree counts of theft by deception and one third-degree count of theft by deception.
Hughes also faces 18 tax-related charges for filing false New Jersey state tax returns and failure to pay the taxes for each calendar year, beginning in 1997 and ending in 2004.
According to the press release, Hughes is accused of owing the state of New Jersey more than $120,000 in back taxes.
Hughes is being represented by attorney Michael J. Pappa, who was unavailable for comment.
Although several phone calls were made, Kaye was also not available for comment.
Hughes turned himself in to Rumson Police Department last November, after an audit of Holy Cross by the Diocese of Trenton revealed financial incongruities and misappropriations in the church’s bookkeeping, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Robert J. Honecker Jr., who held the press conference in November after the arrest.
The audit came as the result of a proposal of Hughes’ to expand Holy Cross Church and School.
As part of that audit, Hughes was required to disclose all bank accounts in the church’s name, but he allegedly had a bank account at Shrewsbury State Bank and all bank statements were mailed to a post office box in Sea Bright.
According to Honecker, when that account was discovered and reviewed, it was found that a great deal of personal expenses were paid out of that account.
Hughes allegedly used non-parish credit cards for personal expenses amounting to $390,000, and checks written out of that bank account to cash totaling $137,000. There have also allegedly been tranfers from other parish accounts into the Shrewsbury State Bank account.
Honecker said that this account was unknown to the parish bookkeeper.
It was found that, during the past three years, Hughes allegedly spent in excess of $500,000 of church money, much of which were donations and fund-raising proceeds, although the Diocese contends that the funds raised for the expansion on the church were not touched by Hughes.
Hughes allegedly spent this money on expensive cars, lavish vacations, fancy dinners and jewelry.
“He certainly didn’t dedicate himself to a life of poverty,” said Honecker in November.
Hughes also allegedly bought a car and jewelry, and funded several vacations and dinners for David Rogers, 25, Howell, who is listed on church records as the operations supervisor with a salary of $50,000 annually.
The mortgage on Rogers’ home on North Woods Place in Howell, was allegedly paid for by Hughes, who also reportedly spent $58,000 on a 2004 BMW for Rogers, while leasing the same car for himself, according to Honecker.
Rogers has not been charged with any crime at this time, although another member of the church has.
Holy Cross School principal, Thomas Bugliaro, 43, Manasquan, was removed from his position last March after it was found that he may have taken school funds to pay off his personal debt, according to Steven Emery, spokesman for the Diocese of Trenton.
Bugliaro is the school official who composed the letter sent home to parents after Hughes was arrested.
“Clearly this is a very unfortunate situation,” said Emery. “It’s a very sad situation for the people in the parish.”
Emery said that since the church and school have separate accounts, the two cases do not seem to be connected.
“At this time,” said Emery, “there is no reason to believe, and no evidence to show any connection between the two.”
One of these more extensive audits is what Emery referred to as “financial improprieties” on the part of Bugliaro.
“The allegations are that Mr. Bugliaro used school money to pay off personal debt,” said Emery.
The expansion process, which was spearheaded by Hughes and lead to the audit that implicated the two men, has been in the works for more than a decade.
In 1994, Hughes’ proposal for the expansion and renovation of Holy Cross Church was rejected. In 1995, he announced he would not pursue the project “at this time.”
The plans were brought back to the table in November 2000, when Hughes proposed a 700-plus-seat, $7 million church near the site of the current Holy Cross Church.
At that time, Hughes claimed a survey showed parishioners were overwhelmingly in favor of the expansion.
In February 2001, Hughes sold the mission Church of Holy Rosary to parishioner John Mulhern for $910,000. This forced some parishioners to relocate to Holy Cross.
In March 2001, in a survey conducted by the Concerned Parishioner Committee, with 580 parishioners responding, only 60 were in favor of the expansion.
In October of that year, Hughes sent out a revised plan to parishioners, calling for a 600-seat, 9,500-square-foot addition to the back of the church, eliminating 292 seats in the present sanctuary, and a 9,500- square-foot addition to the school.
A 2003 lawsuit was brought by the church against the borough after the application was rejected by the board in 2002. Hughes only agreed to drop the lawsuit after the board accepted a scaled-down version of the project earlier this year.
The application was first brought before the Zoning Board in December 2001, and finally gained approval in April of this year.
Father Michael Manning was transferred to take over the parish almost immediately after Hughes’ arrest.