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It wasn’t the first time he’s done it, either, they said.
After reviewing surveillance video and consulting an informant familiar with him, Detective Capt.Vincent Laurentino identified 55-year-old Keith Bennett as the man who came to St. Philip the Apostle Roman Catholic Church rectory on Sept. 28 and left with the cash.
“The priest offered to help in giving money to someone he thought he knew and wanted to help,” Police Chief Robert Kugler said tonight.
“The caller said he was having financial problems and needed money,” Kugler said. “After some discussion, and the [priest] believing the caller was in fact the person known to him, [he] said he would help.”
The priest had a baptism scheduled at the time, so he told the caller to come by, the chief said.
Time passed before another call in which the man said he couldn’t make it but was sending his nephew.
An hour later, the man captured on surveillance video outside the church rectory showed up.
Becoming suspicious, the priest contacted the man he thought he’d originally talked to and discovered that he’d been taken, the chief said.
Laurentino quickly learned that Bennett “has committed this same type of theft among various churches,” Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight.
Bennett was released without bail pending a Municipal Court hearing a week after tomorrow.
“Scamming a priest, and coming into the church to do it, is pretty low,” Kugler said.
The priest “probably would have helped him if he just told the truth and said he needed money,” the chief said.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD
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