Priest Innocent of Fraud and Theft

http://www.graceandststephens.org/Bulletins/forensic_audit_press_release.html

[Grace Church & St. Stephen's] 24 Oct 2007--After a thorough investigation of several months duration, independent forensic auditor Robert D. Johnson, CPA, P.C. today issued a report surrounding the allegations of financial mismanagement, fraud, and theft at Grace Church & St. Stephen’s. His findings concluded that the Parish rector, the Rev. Donald Armstrong, is innocent of allegations of fraud and theft.

The forensic audit was initiated by the vestry in direct response to the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado’s investigation and presentment against Fr. Armstrong. Since 2003 relations between the conservative parish and the diocese have deteriorated over the revisionist theology of The Episcopal Church, creating a tenuous standing within the mainstream of the biblically faithful worldwide Anglican Communion. Grace Church has chosen to remain in the Anglican Communion.

The Rt. Rev. Robert O’Neill, Episcopal Bishop of Colorado, suspended Fr. Armstrong from ministry within the parish during the Christmas season of last year pending completion of an investigation of financial mismanagement. After several frustrated attempts by the vestry over the course of months to mediate in a situation that it viewed as politically motivated, the vestry determined that the Episcopal Diocese’s investigative and ecclesiastical judicial process was fatally compromised.

More importantly and a cause of great concern for the Grace Church leadership were the theological controversies within the Episcopal Church that jeopardized its own historic standing within the worldwide Anglican Communion. In response, last May the parish voted to disaffiliate with the Episcopal Church and join the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) to remain in fellowship with the larger worldwide Anglican Communion.

Since this action, the vestry has been working with the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, Bishop of CANA, to specifically address the allegations brought against Fr. Armstrong by the Episcopal Bishop and Diocese of Colorado. Bishop Minns asked for a complete report of the parish’s internal control and accounting functions based upon an independent forensic audit.