BRONSON, MI (WTVB) – Michigan State Police are seeking felony embezzlement charges against a former Catholic priest in Branch County.
They accuse Reverend Richard Fritz of stealing over $213,000 from St. Mary’s Assumption in Bronson and St. Barbara Mission in Colon.
The allegations surfaced last year, and State Police requested the charges be filed by the Branch County Prosecutor’s Office yesterday. A decision is expected by the end of next week.
Fritz resigned last October following an investigation into questionable accounting practices between 2010 and 2016.
An attorney for the Diocese of Kalamazoo said last fall that the 69-year-old Fritz admitted to writing himself checks but said the checks were for reimbursement.
His access to parish funds was removed last June. Fritz was ordained in 1975.
(courtesy MetroSource News)
