YUMA, Ariz. – A man in charge of his Catholic church’s donations was ordered to repay more than $300,000 he took from collection plates.

Philip Francis Martinez, 44, was given a 90-day jail term and must repay $312,910 to the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Yuma.

He admitted pocketing the money while volunteering as the church sacristan, or person in charge of a room where church funds and ceremonial equipment are kept.

He was charged with just one count of theft last year and agreed to plead guilty and repay about $10,000. But at his sentencing hearing, a church lawyer asked the judge for permission to present evidence that the loss was much greater.

At a series of hearings, the church showed it had lost between $300,000 and $400,000 by presenting collection records from before and after Martinez had oversight of the money.

Martinez agreed to accept the higher restitution, which he must repay at $300 a month.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Local. Tags for this post: Arizona, Crime/Safety, Local-Crime/Safety, Local-Crime/Safety-Arizona, page-a05, The Associated Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.