Pennsylvania priest accused of spending over $40K of his church’s money on Mario Kart Tour and Candy Crush

Video game addiction is no laughing matter, especially when it involves spending ludicrous amounts of money on microtransactions. Spending someone else’s money on in-game purchases, though, is only going to land you in serious trouble as it did with a priest in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer (and spotted by Kotaku), one Reverend Lawrence Kozak, 51, has been accused of using his parish’s credit card on mobile games like Mario Kart Tour and Candy Crush. In total, it’s believed he spent more than $40,000 over the course of three years, from September 2019 to July 2022. As such, he’s been charged with theft, though Kozak is already out on bail after posting $250,000.

While Kozak was only charged recently, he was caught and removed from his position at St. Thomas More Church over his in-game spending in November 2022. Ken Gavin, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, told The Philadelphia Inquirer this was after the archdiocese’s Office of Parish Services and Support conducted an investigation into the parish’s finances and found “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” on credit card statements.

Kozak’s spending apparently didn’t stop at microtransactions. Further probing uncovered an Amazon account belonging to Kozak, who used the parish credit card to buy gifts for his goddaughter, including a children’s chemistry set and an Amazon Fire tablet. According to an affidavit, when interviewed by detectives in 2022, Kozak explained he was seeking counseling for his mobile game addiction, though he denied spending money on gambling, but rather to “power up” in the games to get an advantage. Having played Mario Kart Tour myself, I can confirm you can spend money to upgrade your characters and karts to make it easier to rack up high scores during races. It did have a gacha mechanic (which is debatably a form of gambling) for unlocking new characters and the like, but it was removed in October 2022.

Still, even if he wasn’t gambling with it, Kozak was allegedly spending money that didn’t belong to him. He claimed the parish’s credit card was already connected to his phone, since he used it for approved purchases like Microsoft Office software and church-authorized streaming services. As such, his in-game spending with the card was unintentional, though he admitted he was “disappointed” with himself and there was “no excuse, except that he wasn’t paying attention and should have been.” Aside from sending an apology note to his successor following his removal, Kozak also provided an $8,000 check for “parish reimbursements” and promised to continue paying back the money he owed.

Kozak’s lawyer may argue he has already been punished for his actions, and sufficiently apologized for it. However, the church’s business manager believes Kozak was very much aware he was using the parish’s credit card to fund his gaming habits, having spoken with and warned him over unexplained credit card purchases on the account’s statements. Kathy Kane, co-founder of advocacy group Catholics4Change, told The Philadelphia Inquirer, “This is a crime that needs to be prosecuted. It’s good that it’s in the hands of the court and not just the archdiocese.”