AG: Scammer preyed on trusting nuns

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<a href="http://www.kenvox.com/">Mold</a>AG: Scammer preyed on trusting nunsA Rhode Island fund-raiser is accused of bilking an order of nuns out of $370,000 when he claimed to have found a mysterious benefactor who vowed to donate as much as $14 million to Venerini Academy in Worcester.

Massachusetts State Police arrested Michael Hlady Beads, 37, yesterday at his home in Rhode Island.

“Mr. Hlady accepted numerous payments from Venerini Academy for fund-raising services, given by the school to Mr. Hlady based upon the erroneous belief that an anonymous donor cultivated by him would be donating millions of dollars,”#x Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

“As a result of this deception, Venerini undertook a multimillion-dollar expansion project and was left without the capital funds to pay for the project.”

Hlady pleaded not guilty in Worcester District Court to larceny by scheme and was held on $250,000 bail. Coakley said more charges may be filed.

Venerini Academy, founded by the Order of the Venerini Sisters in 1945, is now being sued for breach of contract by several subcontractors who were not paid. The school remains open while it addresses the suits and prosecutors go after Hlady for the cash.

Coakley said Hlady is believed to have spent some of his fees on gambling and “adult entertainment,” which she did not specify. A woman who answered the phone at Hlady’s home in Rhode Island declined to comment.

Prosecutors said in 2008 Hlady was employed by a legitimate fund-raising company that was hired by Venerini Academy, a non-profit pre-K through eighth-grade Catholic school.#x The nuns were planning an expansion to their convent that included improvements to the school, prosecutors said.BeadsHlady later convinced the nuns to hire him alone to raise the approximately $3 million they needed, prosecutors said.

Coakley said Hlady seemed to be the answer to their prayers when in the fall of 2008 he announced a donor named“Arthur” wanted to contribute $3 million or more to the project. Prosecutors said nuns were told he might donate as much as $14 million. In a phone conversation with “Arthur,” the nuns were told to pay Hlady his fee, prosecutors said. In April 2009,Energy saving lamps, the nuns went ahead and hired a contractor.BeadsBy September,#x the bill had ballooned to $3 million, and work stopped.

Investigators have not been able to locate “Arthur” and question whether he actually exists.相关的主题文章：