By Prosecutors had charged Joseph Manzi with the theft in October 2025.
The former finance director of a New Jersey parish has pleaded guilty to stealing more than half a million dollars from the church to “fund a lavish lifestyle.”
State Attorney General Jennifer Davenportʼs office said in a May 15 press release that Joseph Manzi pleaded guilty to “one count of second-degree theft by unlawful taking and one count of third-degree filing a fraudulent tax return.”
The state had charged Manzi in the theft in October 2025 after staffers at St. Leo the Great Parish in Lincroft had discovered “numerous unauthorized charges that were determined to allegedly be for Manzi’s personal benefit.” Manzi had left his position as the parish finance director earlier in the year.
In its May 15 release the state said its investigation determined that the 78-year-old Manzi “fraudulently used St. Leo’s credit cards to make unauthorized purchases and payments.” Such purchases included “personal medical and dental payments,” “sports event tickets,” “chartered fishing trips” and a Cadillac SUV.
In October 2025 the state had alleged Manzi stole around $500,000, though on May 15 it said its investigation had revealed nearly $675,000 in thefts, while “further investigation identified additional stolen funds.”
The state said it was recommending a five-year sentence in New Jersey state prison.
Manzi in August 2025 had also been the subject of a separate civil lawsuit by the St. Leo the Great Parish which accused him of stealing more than $1.5 million from the church.
New Jersey said this week that part of Manziʼs plea agreement includes $1.2 million in restitution to the church.
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What a shame. I’ve been to that parish. Nice people.
Inadequate review and segregation of duties. Churches have this all the time.
These problems have been know for a long time. Bishops should be retaining Certified Public Accountants, Certified Internal Auditors and Certified Fraud Examiners to establish proper internal controls for parishes-but that’s not nearly as much fun as prattling on about immigrants.
One of the mitigating controls in the absence of segregation of duties in a small shop is to have someone independent doing the monthly bank account reconciliations and make their report to the board of control. Also, the person who makes entries in the cash journal or general ledger should not be making the regular deposits. Aware of a local case at a business where the bookkeeper refused to allow anyone else but herself to make the deposits; that’s how her scheme got over 500k until she left for another job and her replacement couldn’t balance the books at all. That fella in Detroit who stole 44 million or so from the Detroit waterfront conservancy would meet the auditors in the parking lot with the documents – anyway, sometimes the red flags are ignored by management. Another includes a lifestyle that can’t be supported by the person’s general income. Check out the latest theft by a west MI township treasurer. That one most of the cash stolen has been recovered due to seizure. Church managers should be cautious/prudent on how they treat the honest people in their volunteers group though espc avoiding false accusations. Again, an independent bank reconciliation, if at all possible, is one of the best tools there is to prevent fraud.
Also, put low limits on cards; treat them like petty cash accounts for small urgent items. Home Depot and Walmart still take checks.