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Charity accuses couple of theft

A Catholic charity in New York hopes to recover $2.4-million from the San Antonio couple.

A San Antonio couple are accused of stealing more than $2-million from a nonprofit Catholic housing organization in New York by writing checks to a phony corporation.

Caesar and Theresa Mejillones, who bought a home in Pasco County two years ago, were indicted by the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes in August 2003. They also have been sued in civil court by Catholic Charities of the Brooklyn Diocese, which hopes to recover $2.4-million from the couple.

Preliminary court hearings in the criminal case were to begin Monday. The hearings were postponed, and now motions are scheduled for June 1.

Reached at their home in San Antonio, the couple declined to comment on the cases.

The indictment names both Caesar and Theresa Mejillones as defendants, but it focuses largely on Theresa Mejillones. After 14 years with the charity, Theresa Mejillones was promoted as the director of fiscal services for the housing arm of Brooklyn Catholic Charities in 1998, according to Margaret Keaveney, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities.

Theresa Mejillones is charged with grand larceny, 14 counts of falsifying business records, and five counts each of forgery and possession of forged instruments. Caesar Mejillones is charged with grand larceny.

They are accused of cheating the Progress of Peoples Management Corp. out of the cash between Oct. 1, 2000, and Oct. 28, 2002. The corporation is affiliated with Catholic Charities of the Brooklyn Diocese.

Shortly after Theresa Mejillones took the financial reins at Progress of Peoples Management, she and Caesar, who was no longer employed by the charity, set up a false company called CJM Design, authorities said.

Over two years, they allegedly wrote checks from one of the charity's bank accounts to their company, cashed the checks and kept those earnings, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

The money alleged to be missing came from the federal government and was earmarked for the renovation of a 200-unit apartment building in Brooklyn's Park Slope district.

Catholic Charities executive director Robert Siebel said in a statement that he was "saddened by this betrayal on the part of a trusted employee."

He said the thefts would not interrupt the renovation of the apartments, which are expected to be completed later this year.

The money, which Catholic Charities has estimated at $2.4-million, can be recovered through insurance, Siebel said. However, the charity hopes to be paid restitution through the courts.

The Mejilloneses owned homes in Staten Island and New Jersey during the time of the theft, the New York Post reported. They also bought a $48,000 Hummer H2 and four Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Pasco County property records show that the couple own three properties in the area: a home in San Antonio and two condominiums in Wesley Chapel.

The brick house in San Antonio, built in 1979, features a pool, a whirlpool and a barn and sits on slightly more than 41/2 acres. The couple bought the property in February 2002 for $275,000.

In December 2001, the couple paid $61,000 for one of the condominiums. They paid $77,000 in February 2003 for the other. Both are in Saddlebrook Resort.

Florida corporate records show that the Mejilloneses run a financial services business in Wesley Chapel. The company is called Financial Answers for America Inc., and it is not located at the address listed with the state.

The company's Web site claims that Financial Answers "provides alternative funding options for a variety of income streams."