Committed coverage
The Dayton Daily News was first to discover the millions of dollars in property holdings and large debts accumulated by former St. Peter Catholic Church pastor, the Rev. Earl Simone, during his time at the church. We have been covering this story since Simone’s resignation last April.
The Rev. Earl Simone, former St. Peter’s Catholic Church pastor, is expected to make a plea on Thursday in the theft of $1.5 million from the church, his attorney David P. Williamson confirmed exclusively to this newspaper Wednesday.
The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s office on Wednesday issued a bill of information for aggravated theft, a first-degree felony, stating that Simone, 75, of Huber Heights took the money from the Huber Heights church between Jan. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2015.
A Dayton Daily News investigation found Simone had accumulated huge debts from unpaid taxes and court judgments on property he owned - mostly in Huber Heights - and businesses he operated during his 23 years as pastor of the church.
“I will tell you that once the plea is made my statement will be the same I’m going to make right now. We’re not going to make a statement until later after the proceedings play themselves out,” Davidson said. “Assuming there is a plea, there will be a pre-sentence phase. Once we get to the point of sentencing, that’s the point in time we will make a statement.”
Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, declined comment until Simone makes his plea.
Williamson said the next step is a plea to the bill of information but he declined to provide further details until the plea is made at 2 p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Simone resigned as pastor and retired last April amid a police investigation of financial irregularities at St. Peter.
RELATED: Priest had huge tax debts
Simone also resigned as administrator of Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Adalbert, St. Stephen and Holy Cross churches, all in Old North Dayton.
“Age, health and personal concerns have made my decision the correct one,” Simone wrote in an April 2015 letter to parishioners. “To those who I have angered or disappointed, I ask your forgiveness and understanding.”
At the time Andriacco said Simone may have violated Catholic canon law because he was operating his businesses without the required permission from the archdiocese. Andriacco said the newspaper’s findings about Simone were “shocking and disappointing.”
Credit: Dee Moorman/Staff
Credit: Dee Moorman/Staff
In an exclusive interview with this newspaper last year, Simone said he didn’t know he needed permission to run his businesses, which included a Vandalia bagel shop and a realty company with more than two dozen rental properties.
At the time, Simone told this newspaper he wanted to tell his side of the story but needed to wait until the case was resolved.
“Everything isn’t as it appears to be,” Simone said.
Simone was ordained in Cincinnati in 1977 and served as associate pastor at St. Teresa in Springfield until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1980 and became a chaplain. He returned to the archdiocese and was appointed pastor of St. Peter in August 1992.
RELATED: Interactive graphic showing properties owned by Simone's or his company.
He and his Flynn Realty had accumulated 31 properties, all in Huber Heights except an apartment building in Troy, by May 2015 when the story was done. He had done business as The Bagel Shoppe A Gourmet Sandwich Place in Vandalia. That business is defunct.
Simone began racking up debt in 1999, facing court judgments and delinquent property and municipal, state and federal taxes.
The newspaper’s investigation found that between 1994 and 2014 Simone bought $2.8 million worth of property. He had $670,637 in court judgments, settlements and tax liens released after he made payments between 1999 and 2013.
He also faced 91 zoning and property maintenance code violations issued by the cities of Huber Heights and Troy. A tenant of one of his apartments buildings on Powell Road told a reporter about about broken doors and windows, mold on the walls and electrical problems he had failed to fix. All had been resolved by the time the newspaper published the story.
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