A Catholic priest in Pottstown improperly used a parish credit card to fund his addiction to such cell phone games as Candy Crush and Mario Kart, racking up more than $40,000 in expenses over the course of three years, according to prosecutors in
Chester County.
The Rev. Lawrence Kozak, 51, was charged Thursday with theft and related crimes, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He was released after posting $250,000 bail.
Investigators said an accountant working for St. Thomas More discovered “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” on credit card statements for the church while reviewing their finances in 2022. The purchases began in September 2019, not long after Kozak joined the parish, and ended in July 2022, they said. The Apple ID used to make those purchases was registered to Kozak.
Detectives continued to probe those financial records, and found that an Amazon account belonging to Kozak had used the parish credit card to buy a backpack, Amazon Fire tablet, and children’s chemistry set, all of which were sent to an address in Bensalem, where Kozak’s goddaughter lives, the affidavit said. The packages included a note signed by “Uncle Larry.”
Other financial records showed that Kozak had used his personal bank account to pay $10,000 of the balance on the parish credit card, the affidavit said.
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