Former Leawood priest allegedly stole $160K from church for cruises, casino and clothes
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- A Johnson County priest was charged on May 13 with felony theft exceeding $100,000.
- A parish audit found $159,326.92 in suspected unauthorized spending from 2021–2025.
- Alleged misuse included $77,025.52 for cruises.
A Johnson County priest charged last month with stealing $100,000 or more from his church over a four-year period allegedly spent much of the money on cruises, international travel and retail purchases, a court document released Wednesday shows.
The Rev. Richard Storey, who resigned last September as pastor of Curé of Ars Catholic Church in Leawood amid an investigation into a separate issue, was charged with felony theft on May 13 in Johnson County District Court.
According to a probable cause affidavit signed by a Leawood police detective in support of the charge, the alleged theft includes $77,000 for cruises, a nearly $24,000 “casino cash withdraw” and $27,000 for travel to several international destinations.
The theft is alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2025.
Storey pleaded not guilty on June 2 and is out on $25,000 bond. Among the conditions of his release are that he wear a GPS monitoring device, surrender his passport and have no contact with victims or witnesses in the case.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 15.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Leawood police received a report about possible embezzlement from Curé of Ars Catholic Church on Jan. 23. On March 19, it said, police met with officials from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas to discuss the results of an audit the archdiocese had conducted of the church’s finances.
The audit, for the years 2021 through 2025, showed unauthorized transactions by Storey on a parish credit card account and from another source whose identity was redacted, the affidavit said. The total suspected unauthorized spending by Storey was $159,326.92.
“Archdiocese staff stated that Father Storey did not keep consistent records or provide documentation for much of the spending, making it difficult to know how many other charges were for personal benefit,” the affidavit said.
Cruises, casino cash withdrawal and overseas trips
The affidavit said Storey used the church credit card account to pay for one or more cruises totaling $77,025. During a July 2023 cruise, it said, there was a large cash withdrawal of $23,904 that was coded on the credit card statement as “casino cash withdraw.”
A second withdrawal, made in February 2025 for $25,948, also was related to a cruise, the affidavit said.
“Church officials stated that this was a gross misuse of church funds, and Father Storey would have known that these expenses were not to be covered by church funds,” the document said. “Priests are paid a salary and any vacation expenses are to be paid by the individual priest. The church did not receive reimbursement for the expenses related to cruise vacations taken by Father Storey.”
The church audit also found travel expenses of $27,079 to destinations including London, Paris, Dublin and New York that were paid for with the church credit card, the affidavit said. The trips were personal in nature, it said, and not related to church activities.
In addition, the affidavit said, a round-trip ticket was purchased with the church credit card in 2022 for another member of the church.
“The church received no reimbursement from Father Storey for his personal trip-related costs,” the affidavit said.
Records also showed that Storey used the church credit card to make multiple “donations” totaling $22,663 to church fundraising efforts, according to the affidavit.
“Because these funds came from the church credit card instead of being made as a personal donation, the transaction did not result in any net financial benefit to the church,” it said. “These transactions artificially inflated the reported fundraising totals without generating any new external funds.”
The archdiocese’s audit also revealed that Storey charged $11,687 on the church credit card for pharmacy prescriptions, medical appointments, eyewear, dental and weight-loss expenses, the affidavit said. None of those charges, it said, were authorized by the church.
“Church officials said that priests receive certain salary and benefits, but additional health and medical costs, to include materials, appointments, copays, and medications, are the financial responsibility of the individual priest,” the document said.
Storey also used church money other than the credit card to pay $4,439 for a dental procedure that should have been a personal expense, the affidavit said.
The church audit discovered that several retail store purchases totaling $5,906 had been charged to the church’s credit card account, the affidavit said. The purchases, believed to be personal in nature, were at stores including Jos. A. Bank, Nordstrom Rack, specialty shops and online retailers.
The affidavit also said Storey made $10,526 in unauthorized donations to the church, which fraudulently inflated the amount of the donations.
Many of Storey’s unauthorized expenditures were concealed among legitimate charges, the affidavit said.
"In total, $312,566.46 was charged to the church credit card between 2021-2025,” it said. “While many of the transactions were legitimate, it is unknown exactly how many charges were for personal matters due to the lack of documentation or memos turned into finance by Father Storey. Also, a total of $590,428.83 was spent out of the (redacted) between 2021-2025. It is unknown exactly how much of the total was for personal matters due to the lack of documentation or memos turned into finance by Father Storey.”
On April 9, officials with the archdiocese gave Leawood police a flash drive containing the church’s financial records, the affidavit said, along with a spreadsheet breaking down all financial activity from 2021 through 2025.
“In addition to the previously discovered personal use of church funds, it was discovered that approximately 21 payments were made to a non-church Citi Bank account between 2021-2025 for a total of $25,221.44,” the affidavit said. “The church reported that the Citi Bank credit card account is Richard Storey’s personal account, and they have no documentation of that Account.”
A Leawood police detective subpoenaed Storey’s Citi Bank credit card and found that Storey paid his personal credit card with money from the church, the affidavit said.
Additionally, the affidavit said, church officials gave police an earlier audit from October 2022 that found concerns regarding spending and oversight of a church-related entity whose identity was redacted in the document.
“At the time, the Archdiocese had requested changes to include a ‘Governing Committee’ to change procedures at Curé of Ars Catholic Church in Leawood,” the affidavit said. “These instructions were not followed or correctly implemented by Father Storey, and the unauthorized spending continued out of the (name unredacted).”
Storey declined to provide a statement to police, the affidavit said.
Resigned in September
Storey resigned as pastor of Curé of Ars in September in the midst of an investigation by Prairie Village police involving Storey and another adult, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced at the time.
The Prairie Village Police Department issued a statement saying it was conducting “a criminal investigation into an allegation reported to have occurred in Prairie Village.”
“The investigation involves an adult victim and a pastor of Curé of Ars Parish in Leawood,” it said.
Prairie Village Police Capt. Josh Putthoff told The Star in an email on Wednesday that the investigation remains ongoing.
Curé of Ars is located at 9401 Mission Road in Leawood. The rectory, where Storey lived, is across the street and has a Prairie Village address.
Few details about that allegation and investigation have been made public, other than the alleged offense taking place between March and November 2022, according to a police incident report obtained by The Star.
The archdiocese released a statement from Archbishop Shawn McKnight after Storey surrendered to police on May 23. McKnight said his primary concern was for the people of Curé of Ars parish and all those directly affected by the alleged crime.
“This news is deeply painful for all of us in the Catholic community, particularly given the nature of the allegations involving resources entrusted to the Church through the sacrifice and generosity of the faithful,” McKnight said.
“These allegations are serious, the legal processes must be allowed to proceed, and Father Storey is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law or internal canonical process.”
The archdiocese said it was cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation and was filing an insurance claim in hopes of making up the financial loss.
Ordained in 2004 at 33, Storey had served since 2015 as pastor at Curé of Ars Catholic Church. He was assigned to Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Overland Park from 2009 to 2015, and in his early years as a priest was at three churches in Osage County.
A popular priest in the archdiocese, Storey celebrated Mass last August at the annual Kansas City Irish Fest. He was known among parishioners as “Father Short Story” because his homilies were brief and to the point. His resignation came as the Curé of Ars Parish was in the midst of a $12 million capital campaign.
Previous reporting by The Star’s Kendrick Calfee contributed.
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 6:07 PM.
