LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A former employee at a central Kentucky abbey run by an order of Catholic monks has been indicted on dozens of theft charges that allege he stole more than $1 million from the institution.
Police said John Hutchins was working as an accountant at the Abbey of Gethsemani when he began diverting money, with help from his wife, from an abbey-owned account in 2008.
Hutchins was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on 87 counts of felony theft and 87 counts of unlawful access to a computer, along with 174 counts of complicity to commit those crimes, for a total of 348 indictments, according to indictment documents provided by the Nelson County Circuit Court clerk’s office. Hutchins’ wife, Carrie Hutchins, faces the same 348 charges.
Nelson County Sheriff’s Detective Jason Allison said Wednesday that the couple was working together.
“We believe the evidence is going to show that it’s over a million dollars” that was taken from the abbey, Allison said.
Luke Morgan, an attorney for John Hutchins, had no comment on the indictments Wednesday. Morgan said the couple will plead not guilty at their arraignment later this month.
Hutchins has been fired from his job in the bookkeeping office, the Abbey of Gethsemani said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon.
“This breach of trust has been harmful to the network of good will that exists among the monastery’s employees, neighbors, visitors, and benefactors,” it said. “With the help of professionals, the Abbey of Gethsemani is developing a new system of financial controls to reduce the risk of a theft of this nature from happening again.”
Court records list large amounts of cash taken from the abbey over several years.
The Trappist monks at the 166-year-old abbey take vows of silence and operate Gethsemani on the profits from selling desserts and cheeses through the mail.
In February, the abbey discovered “improper financial transactions” and told police, the statement said. Hutchins was then suspended from his job, which he had held since 2007. Hutchins’ wife did not work there.
The abbey, which is surrounded by 2,200 acres of hills and pastures near Kentucky’s bourbon belt, became widely known thanks to the writings of Thomas Merton, who lived at Gethsemani for nearly three decades until his death in 1968.
The couple is due in court for an arraignment May 22.
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