New Zealand - 39-year-old Gerard Marychurch faces Auckland District Court this week on charges accusing him of deceiving money out of area churches by pretending to be a cancer sufferer in need of treatment money, totaling $500,000 since 2004.
Marychurch said in a written apology that most of the cash went toward his addiction to gambling. A female parishioner said that he also lied about having to travel to the South Island for specialist treatment, where parishioners were out of sight.
"I was suspicious of what was going on, so made some enquiries down in Dunedin. They came up with nothing. At the time I thought he was being ripped off by some charlatan," she said. Marychurch's priest has since welcomed him back to the church.
