Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Northern California Catholic priest has been sentenced to three years in prison for funneling more than $1.4 million in church donations into his bank accounts.
The United States Attorney's Office says Hien Minh Nguyen was also ordered to pay $1,880,000 in restitution to the Diocese of San Jose and the IRS.
Nguyen was convicted in March on bank fraud charges. He pleaded guilty last year to tax evasion charges.
Prosecutors say that while 57-year-old Nguyen was a priest at St. Patrick's Church and director of the Vietnamese Catholic Center, he deposited 14 donation checks from parishioners into his personal bank account.
They say the donations were meant for the center, whose funds Nguyen also used to pay for personal expenses.
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)