Embezzling Darien priest gets temporary prison reprieve

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A Darien priest convicted of embezzling $1 million from his parish received a judge's permission Tuesday to report to prison seven weeks later than scheduled while he continues undergoing cancer treatment.

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled that the Rev. Michael Jude Fay could go to prison on July 8. He had been due to surrender May 19.

The delay came after Dr. Ethan Basch said Fay was showing some signs of improvement since he began taking an experimental drug in January. He is due for another evaluation next month.

Arterton said the delay will give prison officials time to determine if Fay's participation in the clinical trial could be carried out in prison and, if not, to see if Fay's next evaluation shows further progress to warrant another delay in reporting to prison.

Fay, who has said he's dying of prostate cancer, resigned in 2006 as pastor of St. John Roman Catholic Church. He was sentenced in December to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to a fraud charge.

Authorities say he set up secret bank accounts and spent the money on a lavish lifestyle, including international travel, expensive gifts and a condominium.

Lawrence Hopkins, Fay's attorney, has said Fay will die behind bars if he cannot complete his treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He said the treatment is not available in prison, and he welcomed Tuesday's decision by the judge.

"She's obviously trying to do the right thing," Hopkins said. "We respect and appreciate that."

Federal prosecutors had asked Arterton to require Fay's doctor to testify about whether the treatment could be provided in prison and why a six-month delay in reporting to prison rather than one month was necessary.

Prosecutors did not object to the delay, leaving it to the judge's discretion.