It’s only just begun… now, we’ve got to clean up the mess that Bobby et al left for us. How sweet it isn’t!
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The former administrator of a Venice FL church, accused of embezzling funds, won’t go to jail as part of a plea deal. Police arrested Robert Kondratick in March for embezzling more than 50,000 USD from Holy Spirit Orthodox Church, 700 Shamrock Blvd. The case was supposed to go to trial this week, but court records show that Kondratick entered a guilty plea on 16 October to a second-degree felony charge of larceny instead. Assistant State Attorney Erika Quartermaine said that he agreed to serve two years of community control and eight years of probation and that he’d pay restitution. His defence attorney, Derek Byrd, said, “If he had pressed that case to trial, there’s a good chance he would’ve been found not guilty”. However, to avoid the possibility of a conviction and jail time, Kondratick agreed to the plea offer.
Church leaders told the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office that Kondratick requested signed blank checques to pay what he claimed were church expenses. However, an investigation revealed he cashed 28 checks made out to “cash” or to himself… totalling 53,950 USD. Byrd said evidence shows that instead of keeping the money, Kondratick may have given at least some of it away through a “Good Samaritan” fund. The parish fired him after it discovered the misuse of funds. It appears that this isn’t the first time Kondratick was accused of stealing from a church, the Herald-Tribune previously reported. In 2007, the Orthodox Church in America in Syosset NY, relieved Kondratick of his duties as priest following an investigation into financial misconduct. No criminal charges were filed in that case.
21 October 2013
Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune
Editor’s Note:
Byrd’s remarks have the smell of “spin” about them. After all, those who cop a plea usually do so on the advice of their attorney. I’d lay even money that’s what happened here. If Byrd thought that he’d win, he would’ve pressed forward. Indeed, it smells as thought the HS got tired of Bobby (and, perhaps, of his “threats”). Will they press Storheim to plea, too? Will they retire Iggy over the “unaccounted for” 115 Gs (“The records simply don’t exist”, as Tosi put it)? What about the fact that Fatso ran overbudget on some items? Hmm… there be a whole lotta shit in that there byre… maybe, that’s why so many flies are buzzing around in there!
It’s no fun to clean up the aftermath of a “toot”. This is no exception. I’d say, “Note well who defended who and when… and who savaged who and when… it’ll tell ya who’s naughty and who’s nice”. We could start with firing Tosi, retiring Iggy (frankly, that’s all we need to neutralise him, so, we shouldn’t do more), and sending Fatso off to a far-away monastery, far from the District and from the City (sending him back to Manton wouldn’t do… however, we could send off to Athos or Solovki, literally). If we don’t, we won’t have a real church, and that’s that.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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