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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces is struggling to pay back $1.9 million in unauthorized loans taken out by a former employee, El Paso television station KVIA ABC-7 reported.
Chancellor Louis Roman told ABC-7 that an unnamed employee took out the loans between 2004 and 2009 without Bishop Ricardo Ramirez’s consent.
All the money was taken from a diocesan savings account made up of donations to the churches in the diocese, but Roman told KVIA the employee didn’t do anything illegal with the money, but used the loans to pay for employees’ health insurance costs and various projects within the diocese.
“None of the money benefited any individual or individuals. All of the money is accounted for,” Roman said. “It’s just that now the diocese owes this money back to this account.”
Roman said the diocese has annual audits, but the unauthorized loans were not caught because the audits were not detailed enough, KVIA reported.
