Former Episcopal priest indicted on theft charges

(RNS) A Colorado priest accused of stealing money from his Episcopal parish before he left the denomination to join a rival church has been indicted on 20 counts of felony theft by a grand jury. The Rev. Donald Armstrong is accused of embezzling nearly $400,000 from the parish of Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church […]

(RNS) A Colorado priest accused of stealing money from his Episcopal parish before he left the denomination to join a rival church has been indicted on 20 counts of felony theft by a grand jury.

The Rev. Donald Armstrong is accused of embezzling nearly $400,000 from the parish of Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs while he was rector there. The 60-year-old priest, who led some parishioners to leave the Episcopal Church for a more conservative Anglican branch in 2007, has denied wrongdoing.

The Colorado Springs Police Department said in a statement on May 22 that a “long and exhaustive investigation by CSPD and the Fourth Judicial District Grand Jury revealed there was reason to believe that Rev. Armstrong embezzled money from the church.”


The Episcopal Church defrocked Armstrong in 2007, when a church court found him guilty of “financial and ecclesiastical misconduct.”

Members of St. George’s Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, where Armstrong is now rector, said “we are grateful this lengthy investigation is now concluded and that we will, after over three years of accusation, be able to defend our priest and ourselves from these untruths.”

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