Detroit — Charges were announced Feb. 11 against a Detroit priest accused of defrauding an archdiocesan-run charity designed to offer aid to the inner-city poor.

Fr. Timothy Kane, associate pastor at St. Moses the Black Parish, which is comprised of the merged churches of St. Benedict, St. Gregory the Great and the Church of the Madonna in Detroit, turned himself in to civil authorities Feb. 12 in connection with the allegations.

The charges were announced by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy during a news conference at her office. The archdiocese, which had been cooperating in Worthy’s investigation, released a statement and held its own news conference about the matter shortly afterward.

“We are extremely disappointed and discouraged that a generous source of support for those in dire need in the inner city, an effort known as the Angel Fund, could possibly fall victim to fraud by a member of our own clergy,” said Ned McGrath, director of communications for the archdiocese.

Fr. Kane, 57, was removed from ministry Feb. 6 related to the charges that he and an accomplice, Dorreca Marvie Brewer, conspired to steal thousands of dollars from the Angel Fund, a little-known charity set up in 2005 by a single donor family to provide direct aid to the poor in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park.

The fund, which is managed by the Archdiocese of Detroit but supported by the single anonymous family, has granted more than $17 million in direct aid to those in need since 2005.

Worthy said Fr. Kane and Brewer are accused of recruiting individuals to fraudulently apply for the grant-based funds in exchange for a portion of the money. Along with other charges, Fr. Kane is charged with criminal embezzlement from a charitable institution between $1,000 and $20,000, Worthy said.

Auxiliary Bishop Donald Hanchon, who oversees the archdiocese’s Central Region of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park, said the Angel Fund is used for a variety of purposes determined by the needs of the individuals who might approach a priest for help, such as assistance with rent, medical bills, prescriptions or food. Applications for aid must be signed by a priest in one of those cities before a grant would be dispersed from the archdiocese, he said.

The relatively simple process was and still is the expressed intent of the donor family, said Msgr. Michael Bugarin, the archbishop’s delegate for cases involving clergy misconduct.

“They do not want a whole series of rules and complex bureaucracy. Their single intent is just to help people,” said Msgr. Bugarin, calling the family’s motivations “a beautiful thing.”

The family had continued to support the Angel Fund even after it was informed of the allegations against Fr. Kane, Bishop Hanchon added, saying it “speaks a lot to their genuineness and sincerity.”

Fr. Kane was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1982 and has served in numerous capacities, including as pastor of St. Rita Parish, Detroit, for 18 years. After a medical leave of absence, he was assigned in 2008 as associate pastor at St. Gregory the Great, St. Benedict and the Church of the Madonna before the three merged to become St. Moses the Black Parish in July 2013. Earlier in his ministry, Fr. Kane also served at St. Patrick Parish, Wyandotte; Guardian Angels Parish, Clawson; Bishop Borgess High School, Detroit; and St. Bartholomew Parish, Detroit.