Gambling-addicted Ottawa priest pleads guilty to stealing parish funds - more than + $400,000

Gambling-addicted Ottawa priest pleads guilty to stealing parish funds      
Written by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

Monday, 20 January 2014


 

Fr. Joe LeClair, the popular parish priest of Blessed Sacrament parish in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood, pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to charges of fraud and theft of about $130,000 in parish funds.- Register file photo

OTTAWA - An Ottawa parish priest with an admitted gambling addiction pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to charges of fraud and theft of about $130,000 in parish funds.

Fr. Joe LeClair, the popular parish priest of Blessed Sacrament parish in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood, had been charged following a professional audit revealed more than $400,000 in unaccounted for funds for the years 2006-2011.

The Crown and defense agreed to a statement of facts that led to LeClair’s pleading guilty to fraud and theft of the lower amount, because they established the priest often paid for legitimate parish expenses through his own personal account. Collections from Masses often sat uncounted in the parish office or in the priest’s bedroom instead of being locked in the parish safe, the court heard. Financial controls were lax or non-existent.

About 20 supporters packed the courtroom in support of LeClair.

Though a preliminary hearing had been set to begin in this month and a trial by judge and jury set to begin Feb. 27, LeClair’s attorney Matthew Webber said the priest had admitted to the charges but not the $400,000 figure, for which “the paper trail is non-existent.”

During the sentencing hearing, scheduled to last several days, the court heard LeClair had built Blessed Sacrament “from the verge of extinction” to a thriving community “that just exploded,” made up of several thousand families with a volunteer contingent of more than 700 people serving on various committees and outreach ministries.

As the sole priest for the growing community, the court heard his job “increased in complexity.”

LeClair also had a history of anxiety and depression and some alcohol abuse, his lawyer said. During this time, he also spent a great deal of energy counselling people during the “most trying aspects of their lives” in addition to his work as a parish priest celebrating Masses, weddings, funerals and baptisms. He also ran marriage preparation courses.

Webber said the forensic psychiatrist who examined LeClair after he was charged diagnosed him as “a pathological gambler, a psychiatric condition.” He also noted that after newspaper reports in an Ottawa paper, LeClair had admitted “to having a gambling problem” and apologized to his parishioners publicly, though he denied using public funds.

Among the volumes of evidence submitted to the judge was a volume of letters testifying to LeClair’s positive qualities as a priest. Several witnesses lined up to testify in his favour, including Hilliard Murdock, who offered the priest a room in his home when he was in the Ottawa area.

The Ottawa archbishop released a statement following the guilty plea, holding out hope for the priest’s future.

“Aware of his many talents and of his 25 years of effective pastoral ministry, we will work with Fr. LeClair in his desire to return to the exercise of his priestly ministry,” said Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, noting the archdiocese has supported the priest from the beginning in his recovery process.

“Despite this difficult decision affecting Fr. LeClair’s life, I know that he is relieved to have this painful moment behind him,” said the archbishop. “I share his desire, and that of the many people who supported him over the last two years, to move on and to look to the future.”

The archbishop addressed the strains in the Blessed Sacrament community that developed after the popular priest was criminally charged.

“Many people, with the best of intentions, had encouraged me, and those who assist me in my ministry, to deal with this matter outside of the criminal justice system,” Prendergast said. “For a number of reasons, including the need of our Catholic Church to be transparent about such matters and to resolve what had become a highly publicized matter, the decision was made to refer this issue to the police with the expectation that the case would be treated fairly and thoroughly.”

http://www.catholicregister.org/news/canada/item/17505-gambling-addicted-ottawa-priest-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-parish-funds

The Playbook Failed

Unspoken in the Playbook of Predatory Gambling is: RUSH!

It doesn't often fail.

What went wrong with the casino (a hypothesis)

June 5, 2013. 4:38 pm • Section: City Hall

 

In his two-plus years as mayor, Jim Watson has not botched a file as badly as he has the question of whether Ottawa should get a new casino. He may have done things some people don’t like, but he’s generally done them cleanly, keeping things moving through city council and avoiding ugly, pointless confrontations. That’s widely seen as part of the Watson brand: he’s a highly competent politician. He knows what he wants and he almost always gets it.

But the casino is different.

Watson has supported an expansion of gambling in Ottawa since long, long before it was was on anybody else’s agenda. Watson made a point of saying that in a scrum with reporters Tuesday, noting that he advocated for table games to augment the Rideau Carleton Raceway’s slot machines when he was an MPP and nobody would give him the time of day on that particular thing. And then he backed it as mayor, getting city council to ask the province to let the raceway add table games very early on, in a move that was ultimately overtaken by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s expansion plans.

This suggests his belief that Ottawa would be better off with more, and more interesting, gambling is genuine. It’s not a pose, not a political favour for friends at Queen’s Park.

So when the OLG came along with its modernization project, Watson probably thought, “Hey, great.

Let’s get going.” But being a canny politician, he’d have known there’d be some pretty vocal opposition to the idea. Maybe not from a majority of residents, but from enough people to kick up an unpleasant fuss, frighten some politicians, and maybe put a new Ottawa casino at risk.

Let’s say you figure 25 per cent of the population is against expanding gambling, 25 per cent are actively for it, and half the people just don’t much care one way or the other. We have slot machines at the racetrack, where you can place bets, and nobody’s talking about shutting either of them down.

The casino in Gatineau is a major attraction and nobody really calls for it to be shut down, either. So if you want to expand gambling and you figure most people don’t care about it but a vocal minority will make things unpleasant, what do you do?

You try to get the expansion approved as fast as possible. Lingering on the question won’t change very much except give that vocal minority of opponents more time to make things ugly. So get on with it, get a vote passed, and drop it from the agenda till OLG presents a specific proposal to debate.

But then a couple of things went wrong.

First, opposition to a new casino is probably stronger than 25 per cent, and the rush to get a council vote out of the way activated a bunch of that opposition in a way that an even slightly slower process might not have.

Second, despite how quickly the City of Ottawa got the thing done, the OLG‘s process turned into a gong show. Toronto’s drawn-out debate kept the issue on the periphery of the news in Ottawa. Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan resigned and were replaced by the much less gambling-friendly Kathleen Wynne and Charles Sousa, who are a lot less willing to bulldoze criticism and opposition.

The question of how much money the City of Toronto would get from a casino turned into a real debacle that culminated in the dismissal of OLG chairman Paul Godfrey (who’s CEO of Postmedia Network Inc., which owns the Citizen) and the mass resignation of the rest of the board.
So instead of a quick vote, a brief outcry and then silence for 18 months, we got a constant drumbeat of casino-related news that reminded everyone over and over and over again that Ottawa hurried to a vote in way other cities didn’t.

The first was a miscalculation. The second was a serious of unfortunate events that nobody could have foreseen. And here we are, with Watson fighting a rearguard action to preserve the Rideau Carleton Raceway and interest in a casino collapsing like a deflating balloon.


http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/06/05/what-went-wrong-with-the-casino-a-hypothesis/

Addicts and social issues

Addicts and social issues
By Deryk McGrath, Ottawa Citizen

Whether the mayor and police chief realize it, the casino is really just a safe injection site, the only difference is that at one the addict injects drugs in a safe haven while at the casino one injects money to get high. As for the chief's quote about safe injection sites "As long as the criminal element is there, we will have issues around the current form of safe injection sites," this applies to both casinos and safe injection sites. People will do anything to feed their drug or gambling habit.

In this quote from the chief as well - "As long as addicts are forced to commit crimes to supply themselves with the drugs and the money to buy their drugs, that is a problem, that is a public safety concern" - gambling could be substituted for drug use very easily.

The only difference is that the casino will augment the city's appetite for money, without looking at the social issues generated by increased gambling.

I am not against gambling, I buy one lottery ticket per draw and I take $20 to the slots every two months, but I realize there are social issues involved with excess gambling.

Deryk McGrath, Manotick


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Addicts+social+issues/6463984/story.html#ixzz1sCioL5yH

University research outlines the dangers of slot machines

University research outlines the dangers of slot machines
MIKE AUBRY, QMI Agency
First posted: Sunday, April 08, 2012

OTTAWA -- Believe it or not, there's science behind gambling.

Not some hocus-pocus scheme to win jackpots but hard facts about the addictive potential of slot machines.

The Carleton University Gambling Laboratory, a think-tank deciphering what makes gamblers keep coming back, says slot machines like those at the Rideau-Carleton Raceway are nearly four times more addictive than regular card tables.

A sobering thought with the idea of a large permanent casino perhaps coming to the capital region.

Head researcher, Prof. Michael Wohl, said that's because players can sit for long periods of time in a relatively low-stress situation and can cash in their winnings without leaving their seats.

It's also due to grave misconceptions about how slot machines work.

"A lot of people think that every time you spin a slot machine you're getting closer and closer to a win," Dr. Wohl explains.

But that's simply not the case.

He describes them as a mixed bag of marbles.

Within it, there's one "jackpot" marble combined with hundreds of losses. When you play a machine, one of those losses falls out of the bag.

But what many people don't understand is before your very next spin, that dud marble goes right back into the bag. The odds of winning or losing are always exactly the same.

Gail Young, who was having lunch at the Raceway on Sunday, said it's the instant gratification that draws people.

"It's very easy to get sucked in and just stick with it," she said. "You're on your own, there's nobody to stop you. It's a very solitary kind of activity."

According to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, 80% of problem gamblers in Ontario cite slot machines as their problem.

The largest percentage are seniors and low-income earners.

"I think a lot of seniors come here as a group," said Elisse Meshke, who was spending Sunday afternoon at Rideau Carleton.

"It's a way to get out of the monotonous life at old-age homes."

The Gambling Lab has even constructed a virtual casino to see which types of games are most popular and who is most susceptible.

Volunteers don a virtual reality visor that allows them to walk through a casino environment - complete with other gamblers, neon lights and of course an absolute absence of clocks.

The team can monitor everything from rising blood pressure to changing hormones to gauge reactions to near misses on slot machines.

Their research has led them to make an animated video debunking the myths about casinos, which has been distributed in more than 150 jurisdictions around the world.

They're also studying how pop-up notifications can tell people when they've reached the limits they set for themselves.

The biggest gambling addict of them all

The biggest gambling addict of them all
Governments won't give up on gaming, so the only debate is where best to place a new casino
By Mark Sutcliffe, Ottawa Citizen


Once upon a time, there would have been debate about whether Ottawa wanted a casino. Today, the discussion seems to be only about where to put it.

There are so many casinos in North America now that we've given up any moral evaluation of whether government-sponsored gambling is appropriate or harmful. We've surrendered to the idea that gaming is here to stay, whether it's a good idea or not. Other jurisdictions are doing it, so we have to as well, just to keep up.

A decade or two ago, we worried that building casinos would cause more people to have gambling problems. But now it's the government that has the biggest gambling addiction of all. The province has come to depend on the big revenues from casinos and lotteries, which have helped fuel massive spending increases. Even the City of Ottawa gets a nice share from the slot machines at Rideau Carleton Raceway. So now, naturally, both levels of government want even more gambling revenue.

Imagine if you had a friend who regularly spent more money than he earned and his solution was to use gambling as a way to help him fix his cash-flow problem. That's effectively what the provincial government is doing, and it's not the first time. The first wave of casino gambling was introduced in 1992, again when Queen's Park was coping with a big deficit.

But the strongest argument against gambling isn't that it's harmful, it's that it creates very little new wealth. Oh, of course, some people - a select few - get wealthy from gambling.

But they're just taking money from all the people who lose.

For the entire population of participants, gambling is a zero-sum game. In fact, it's even worse, since the odds are stacked so the house makes money.

The bottom line is that when the government is involved, gambling is a form of voluntary taxation. If you don't feel you've given the government enough money so far this year, buy a lottery ticket or go to a government-run casino. There's a small chance that you'll come out ahead. But the odds are much higher that at the end of your experience, the government will have more money and you'll have less.

Gambling produces revenue for the government, but it doesn't create much economic benefit. Lotteries and casinos just move money around from person to person and from person to government. Most of it is money that would have been spent on other forms of entertainment anyway. Compare that to economic activities that create value, including new jobs and wealth.

Does gambling spur tourism revenue? In some cases, yes. But we're not talking about creating a Las Vegas North. Ontario is not going to become a market leader in the casino business. We're just trying to get our small piece of the revenues. And since casinos are everywhere now, it's unlikely someone will choose to visit Ottawa just to gamble.

And any big gains in prying gaming dollars from visitors are usually short-lived. After Ontario opened a casino in Windsor, Michigan opened three in Detroit.

As a result, the population of Americans crossing the border to lose their money in Canada dropped dramatically.

Taking more money from taxpayers, whether they choose to give it to you or not, is not a particularly solid economic development strategy. Instead of figuring out how to get more consumers' dollars into the hands of government, and promoting the appeal of getting rich quick, the province should be trying to create more wealth through innovation, business growth, productivity and good old-fashioned hard work.

Here in Ottawa, there's a small argument to be made in favour of a new casino if your only goal is generating more revenue for the government. We likely would keep more cash in the province if we more effectively competed with the Casino du Lac-Leamy, which sends the voluntary taxation of many Ontario residents to Quebec City instead of Queen's Park.

That would help the province's cash flow, but it's not clear how much it would help the community, since Ottawa-Gatineau is one economic region. Once again, we're just moving money around instead of creating new wealth.

But since city councillors are already putting in pitches on behalf of their wards, if we're going to build a new casino in Ottawa, it should be right downtown.

Councillor Peter Hume is right that Scotiabank Place and Lansdowne Park are not the right locations. (Although he went a bit far when he said the former was "in the middle of nowhere." Apparently he hasn't been to Kanata lately.) The ideal location would be within a few metres of major hotels and the Ottawa Convention Centre, so that more tourists will find it convenient to gamble away their money. If the government's going to move money around by promoting gaming, it might as well get as much as it can from tourists rather than residents.

Our new motto could be: what happens in Ottawa stays in Ottawa.

Only by "what happens" we actually mean "the money you gamble."



Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/biggest+gambling+addict+them/6310552/story.html#ixzz1pNb88Qe2

Police asked to probe church's finances

Police asked to probe church's finances
Review of Blessed Sacrament's administration reveals 'questionable transactions'
By Andrew Duffy And Meghan Hurley, Ottawa Citizen


Ottawa police have been called in to probe financial irregularities at Blessed Sacrament Parish during the last four years of Father Joseph LeClair's tenure as church pastor.

Results of a six-month review by the Archdiocese of Ottawa - it included an audit by Deloitte and Touche LLP - were announced in a letter issued Saturday to parishioners of the Glebe church.

"As for the issues touching on Fr. LeClair's administration of the parish, our review has found that there are questionable transactions that require further investigation," concludes the letter from Msgr. Kevin Beach, vicar general of the archdiocese.

"As a result, we have referred the matter to the Ottawa Police Service for investigation."

The review found a series of problems with financial practices at the church when Le-Clair was pastor.

It raised concerns about the handling of Sunday collections, the misuse of church accounts, the failure to set aside refugee sponsorship money and deficient accounting practices.

What's more, Beach said in his two-page letter, the diocese still has unanswered questions about LeClair's use of church funds.

"We have not been able to substantiate some amounts that have been claimed by him as parish expenses," Beach wrote. "In addition, other amounts were paid to Fr. Le-Clair which were designated as discretionary allowances and stipends."

The letter gives no indication as to how much money is at issue.

LeClair has not seen the audit, Beach noted, and has not had the opportunity to respond to it.

The former Blessed Sacrament pastor admitted in April he had a gambling problem after the Citizen published a story that revealed the extent of his addiction and the ease with which he could access church funds.

He resigned as pastor in late May and is now in a specialized addictions treatment program in Aurora.

An immensely popular priest, LeClair, 53, has repeatedly denied taking church money or using it to gamble.

Blessed Sacrament reported deficits in four of the past five years despite taking in $2.95 million during that time.

The archdiocese's review found that the church was in a net deficit position of $40,718 by the end of May, just after LeClair's departure.

The church's financial position was so poor by then that it did not have enough cash in the bank to cover $50,000 worth of refugee sponsorships. Blessed Sacrament had received two private donations, worth $25,000 each, but the money had gone into the church's main account, rather than a reserve fund.

In his letter, Beach told parishioners that the decision to bring in the police was a difficult one given LeClair's success as a community builder, counsellor and leader at Blessed Sacrament. "There are, however, important issues that need to be investigated," Beach said, "in the context of a matter that has received broad community interest."

Until now, Ottawa police have been unable to launch a probe at Blessed Sacrament despite receiving at least three complaints from concerned church donors.

Chief Vern White said his officers could not retrieve documents at the parish without the co-operation of the diocese, which oversees the church.

Detectives from the police fraud section will now lead the investigation.

Parishioners were reluctant to speak to a Citizen reporter after Saturday's mass. "We don't have anything to say," one woman said as she left the church. Another woman gaped when told the contents of the letter, but she, too, refused comment.

LeClair, a charismatic priest who made Blessed Sacrament Parish one of the most successful in the city, has insisted that he used his own money and winnings to fund his casino gambling.

In April, the Citizen revealed that LeClair received more than $137,000 in cash advances on his credit card at Casino du Lac-Leamy during 2009 and 2010. He withdrew up to $9,427.50 using Visa on a single night, according to documents obtained by the newspaper.

LeClair racked up personal credit card bills of more than $490,000 during those two years and repaid Visa more than $424,000.

At the time, LeClair earned a net salary of $24,400; he also received money for marriage counselling and for officiating at weddings, baptisms and funerals.

As Blessed Sacrament's pastor, Le-Clair was responsible to the diocese for the financial administration of the church. But the church's financial system relied heavily on trust.

LeClair could write cheques to himself from church accounts without a counter-signature. What's more, he did not have to submit corresponding receipts in order to have a cheque approved.

The church had a finance committee, but it didn't meet as a group last year. The former chair of that committee, Herve Dejordy, served as the church's principal accountant but did not fulfil the role of comptroller. He considered himself a bookkeeper.

"I wouldn't approve anything: If he (LeClair) writes a cheque, I just record the cheque," Dejordy told the Citizen in June, weeks before being fired from his volunteer position by the diocese.

The diocese received annual financial statements from Blessed Sacrament, but did not routinely audit them.

The church's handling of collecion money was also less-than-rigorus when compared to other parishs.

Collection proceeds were kept in canvas bags in LeClair's unlocked office in the church rectory. The money was often not counted until Monday or Tuesday. Weekly collection totals were not published in the church bulletin.

Auditors were first called in to review the church's books in early March after diocesan officials became aware of financial irregularities.

Deloitte and Touche auditors initially raised questions about some $250,000 worth of cheques issued to LeClair from church accounts between 2006 and 2010.

The auditors recommended measures to improve financial accountability at the church, including that all cheques be counter-signed.

LeClair's lawyer, Ian Stauffer, pointed to the results of that initial audit as exculpatory evidence after the Citizen confronted the Blessed Sacrament pastor with questions about church finances. LeClair referred all questions to his lawyer.

"From Father Joe's perspective, the auditors have exonerated Father Joe," Stauffer said in April.

After the Citizen published its story about LeClair's gambling and spending, the diocese ordered a more thorough audit of Blessed Sacrament's books.

The results of that audit, which took four months to complete, formed the basis of Saturday's announcement.

The Citizen was unable to reach lawyer Ian Stauffer or former Blessed Sacrament accountant, Herve Dejourdy, for comment last night.

LeClair was born and raised on Prince Edward Island. He worked as an elementary school teacher and social services worker before being ordained a priest 25 years ago.

He was appointed to Blessed Sacrament in 1997 and revitalized the parish, which had seen its attendance dwindle. Renowned for his storytelling and his tireless work on behalf of parishioners, LeClair became one of the city's best known priests. He hosted a radio show on CFRA and officiated at the weddings of former mayor Larry O'Brien and Senators defenceman Chris Phillips.

Father LeClair apologizes to parish for gambling

Father LeClair apologizes to parish for gambling
It was 'a significant problem in my life'
By Maria Cook and Meghan Hurley, Ottawa Citizen

Father Joseph LeClair was given a standing ovation after he apologized to the Blessed Sacrament Parish on Saturday for gambling and admitting to the congregation of a "significant" problem, but said that he did not steal church money.

"Some months ago I had to face up to the fact that my gambling was not just a harmless, stress-releasing activity as I had led myself to believe but ... a significant problem in my life," he said to about 200 people during the 4: 30 p.m. mass. "I experienced that which every person who has ever had a gambling problem can identify -a trap."

LeClair, a renowned Ottawa priest who made Blessed Sacrament Parish one of the most successful in the city, said that he used his own money to gamble and won enough to keep him in the game. LeClair said he met with the archbishop Saturday afternoon to apologize for embarrassment to the archdiocese and the church.

"There's no question I should have moved more quickly," he said.

"I should have ensured strong financial controls and transparency were in place so that I could respond immediately to any questions concerning the disposition of funds. I apologize fully and wholeheartedly."

LeClair's public apology comes on the heels of a Citizen story in which the paper learned that he received more than $137,000 in cash advances on his credit card at Casino du Lac-Leamy during 2009 and 2010.

The story revealed LeClair racked up personal credit card bills of more than $490,000 in those same years, according to documents obtained by the newspaper.

LeClair repaid Visa more than $424,000 during those years.

How he could afford to repay that much is not known, other than the fact that as a church pastor, LeClair earns a net salary of $24,400. He also receives money for officiating at weddings, funerals, baptisms and marriage preparation courses.

A review by the firm Deloitte and Touche LLP, took place in early March. Auditors raised questions about $250,000 worth of cheques issued to LeClair from church accounts between 2006 and 2010. Le-Clair had the authority during those years to issue a cheque, even to himself, without another signature.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast said in a statement issued Saturday that as a citizen, LeClair has the right to privacy and to defend his reputation.

Prendergast said Msgr. Kevin Beach, vicar general of the Ottawa Archdiocese, met with LeClair "in a context of church discipline and fraternal concern . to establish past facts and norms for his future conduct."

Prendergast said the audit is ongoing and once it is complete, the archdiocese "will act promptly and prudently to take whatever further steps are deemed necessary."

Supporters of LeClair were outraged Saturday that the Citizen published a story about his gambling and the troubles at Blessed Sacrament Parish the week before Easter.

Many parishioners said they will stand behind the priest, but few would speak to the media as they piled into the church Saturday afternoon.

"I'd rather not say anything until I've heard father Joe's side of the story," one woman said before going into the church.

Another man yelled at a reporter until he was interrupted by a second parishioner.

"Jesus would not say 'Talk to my lawyer,'" the parishioner said. "This man owes us answers."

LeClair delivered those answers in a packed church Saturday afternoon.

"I feel I can share with you as best I can my response to this painful matter. Over the years I've shared with you and the greater Ottawa community some highlights of distress, depression, and my occasional bouts with those painful realities of life that many of us share," LeClair said. "One side of that depression that I didn't entirely realize is that I had a ... gambling problem that had grown greater and faster over the last couple of years."

After the mass, parishioners said LeClair delivered a heartfelt statement that is typical of the wellknown priest.

"I think it's sometimes tough that the world we live in is one where we put somebody under judgment for things that maybe they haven't done, basically accusing somebody of theft," said John Price who was married last week by LeClair. "The fact that he's able to be an example of strength ... and to talk openly and honestly about his personal struggles is an inspiration for those of us who try to maybe do better in our lives."

Parishioner Kevin Tencarre said LeClair has always been transparent with the church finances. "I do not believe for a second that he's dipping into any kind of church finance," he said.

"Everything else is just a personal thing. It's none of our business. All we can do is pray for him and everyone else battling whatever forms of addictions."

Jim Ovens, a member of the parish pastoral council, said in an interview Friday that he was aware Le-Clair has gone to the casino, but didn't believe he had a problem.

Longtime parishioner Jim Dunlop said Saturday that he was shocked with the amount of money LeClair spent in 2009 and 2010, but said the Citizen's story has ruined the priest.

"He's finished. You've killed that congregation. You have killed that congregation," Dunlop said. "The whole parish is just going to be totally decimated by this. I don't think you see the enormity of it."

Dunlop said he has received phone calls from friends as far away as Deep River about LeClair.

"They know it's the end. We're done," he said. Kenneth Grattan, a former radio personality said the news about Le-Clair's gambling has hurt the congregation.

"This man is an incredible human being," Grattan said. "You have hurt a lot of people. You have the right to investigate and do whatever, but be responsible."

Grattan said LeClair may have used money given to him from parishioners to finance his gambling.

Shirley Hamre said the parishioners stand behind LeClair.

"People do the very best they can in life," Hamre said. "They have gifts and I think Father Joe has wonderful gifts and I think he gives a lot of those gifts away. He's helped a lot of people."

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