Philadelphia Priest Accused Of Stealing From School Surrenders To Police

December 25, 2007 11:49 a.m. EST

Philadelphia (AHN) - A Philadelphia priest accused of stealing money and molesting a student has surrendered to authorities. The Rev. Charles Newman, a Catholic priest, surrendered at the District Attorney's Office Monday.

The 57-year-old priest was reportedly accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Archbishop Ryan High School led by him in Philadelphia, and providing an ex-student he molested with drugs and hush money.

Newman, a Franciscan friar, was the president of Philadelphia's largest Roman Catholic high school from July 2002 until November 2003.

He spent almost 20 years in the capacity of an educator, principal and president before he was fired after a forensic audit brought to light the funds pilfered by him. He was also accused of having illicit relations with at least three students.

On Thursday, a grand jury report, unsealed recently, accuses Newman of committing theft of $900,000 from the archdiocese and his religious order, and giving at least $53,000 in checks and cash to the late Arthur Baselice, who used to attend Archbishop Ryan in the 1990s.

An ineffective lawsuit was also filed by Baselice against archdiocese, wherein he had alleged that Newman would molest him frequently providing him drugs and alcohol. Baselice lost his life in 2006 due to a drug overdose, which the D.A. called a suicide.