Two Catholic priests have been accused of stealing $1 million from their parishioners. Church auditors believe the pair ripped-off the flock to the tune of around $8 million over a 20 year period, but because of restrictions written into the Statute of Limitations, the accused priests only have to answer charges on the lesser amount.

John Skehan and Francis Guinan 'served' at the St. Vincent Ferrer church in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is alleged they funneled donations into offshore accounts. The stolen cash was used to finance a business venture, gambling trips to Vegas, prostitutes, luxury homes, rare coin collections and what the cops describe as 'heavy drinking'.

In 1984 they set up a corporation named SHAG Inc. The name was an acronym made up of the partner's first names. The third player was a priest named Michael Hickey who managed to rack up five DUI convictions between 1979 and 1999.

The priests invested thousands of dollars in a failed mortgage-loan scheme. SHAG went out of operation in 2004.

A parishioner became suspicious and contacted the cops in 2005. When the church's books were opened up for investigation, Skehan and Guinan fled the country. They succeeded in evading the law until their return to the US in 2006.

This bizarre saga is like the script for a B movie. The deference accorded to Catholic priests and the inefficient checks-and-balances in many churches, enabled Skehan and Guinan to get away with their rip-off schemes for as long as they did.

No doubt while they were stealing money from the church, they were also presiding over mass, dispensing the sacrament, hearing confessions and shaking hands with parishioners at the door.

This is just one more example of the hypocrisy that is a distinguishing feature of a church that covered up sexual abuse by priests until the heat forced the Vatican to get serious about the issue.

Skehan who is now 81, could be looking at a 31 year sentence. He has managed to round up 20 character witnesses to plead his case, in hopes of a reduced sentence. No word if they are being rewarded for their exertions.

Guinan,66, is pleading innocent of the charges and claims the money had been given out as cash to church employees. Given the amounts involved, he must have needed a Wells Fargo truck to come and go from the manse.

Times Online has more detail on the case.