Jim Love stands in the sanctuary Jan. 23 at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Pittsfield at 112 Easy St., which is closed and in need of many extensive repairs. Michael R. Mooney, a former administrator at the church, has been indicted on a charge that he stole more than $10,000 from the UU Meeting House. Love is a leader at the church. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

PITTSFIELD — Michael R. Mooney was hired in 2019 as the administrator at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Pittsfield. He quickly became someone on whom the leaders of the small congregation felt they could rely.

As the only employee, Mooney was paid a salary to work about 32 hours a week, according to Becky Thompson, the church’s vice moderator, a role similar to vice president.

Mooney had secretarial duties and was eventually appointed treasurer.

“He gained our trust,” Thompson said. “He was our friend.”

But instead of paying bills, Thompson said, Mooney was using church funds for unauthorized personal purchases.

Mooney, now fired, is facing a criminal charge that he stole thousands of dollars from the small organization, which leaders say was already shrinking and struggling with what to do with an aging, historic building in Pittsfield’s town center.

In December, a Somerset County grand jury indicted Mooney, 53, of Waterville on one Class B count of theft by unauthorized taking, according to court records.

The indictment alleges Mooney stole more than $10,000 from the UU Meeting House on or about July 22, 2024. The amount in the charge is the statutory definition for the Class B offense.

An indictment is not a determination of guilt. It is a formal charging instrument that indicates prosecutors have enough evidence to move a case forward to trial.

Mooney’s lawyer listed in court records, Thomas A. Tilton of the Waterville law firm Tilton & O’Donnell, said Wednesday he does not comment publicly on his cases.

Thompson, who was the UU Meeting House’s moderator at the time of the alleged theft, said the amount believed to have been stolen is in the range of $48,000, perhaps more.

“Losing that amount of money just is a really big blow to our financial future, making it that much less likely that we’ll be able to survive as a congregation going forward,” said Jim Love, the current moderator, who has been a church member since 1987. “We’re not looking at imminent closing, but every dime helps.”

The Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Pittsfield during a service in September 2023. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

Mooney was set to be arraigned Jan. 29 at Skowhegan District Court, but the proceeding was delayed at Tilton’s request, according to court records. Tilton wrote in a court filing that he was scheduled for a jury trial in another case that day.

The arraignment and dispositional conference were expected to be rescheduled to March, a courthouse clerk in Skowhegan said.

Mooney was issued a summons Aug. 8, 2024, according to court records. He appeared in court Oct. 16, 2024, to be informed of the charge and was released on personal recognizance, with the condition he not return to the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Pittsfield at 112 Easy St.

Officials withhold police records

Law enforcement officials have released few details of the investigation that led to the charge, despite multiple efforts by the Morning Sentinel to obtain records under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.

The Pittsfield Police Department largely rejected the newspaper’s request for investigative reports. Instead, the department supplied a two-page summons report, which contained less information than a copy of the summons on file at the courthouse, and a third page labeled as a narrative report, which said to refer to another report number.

As for the requested police reports, the Police Department wrote in a letter, “The rest of the documents you are asking for are pre conviction forms, and under investigation.”

Pittsfield police Chief Vicente Morris said he would not provide a more detailed reason for denying the request, and he would not consult the specifics of state statute that govern access to investigative records. He said he based the Police Department’s rejection, in part, on the advice of the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

Sigmund D. Schutz, a partner at the Portland law firm Preti Flaherty who represents the Maine Trust for Local News, sent a letter to Morris on Jan. 29 requesting a more detailed justification for the rejection, and urging Morris to release at least a portion of the investigative records.

Morris had not responded as of Thursday.

Maeghan Maloney, the district attorney in Kennebec and Somerset counties, also denied a request for the same records. Maloney was copied on Schutz’s letter to Morris.

Maloney wrote in response to the request that the records requested fall under two of 12 exemptions defined in statute for release of intelligence and investigative records: That the requested records would interfere with criminal law enforcement proceedings and would result in dissemination of prejudicial information.

“The requested information is sensitive and potentially inflammatory for the defendant, and the religious community that has been victimized,” Maloney wrote.

Asked for a redacted version of the records that withhold just the information specifically exempt from freedom of access, Maloney wrote in an email: “There is no amount of redacting that will prevent the dissemination of prejudicial information to the defendant. The concern is not the release of his name or date of birth. The concern is having an article in the press convince the jury pool that he is guilty before a judge is able to decide what evidence the jury will be allowed to hear.”

Thompson of the UU Meeting House said when she contacted Pittsfield police to report the alleged theft, she turned over the relevant financial records to them.

An uncertain future

Mooney regularly provided financial reports to the church council, but when asked for more information, he would often provide an excuse, Thompson said.

When the town came looking for payment for unpaid water bills for the church building that was not being used at the time, Thompson suspected something was awry.

While Mooney was away, Thompson said she eventually looked into the accounts herself, going back to 2023, when another person was treasurer. It was then that Thompson discovered Mooney’s unauthorized purchases.

Mooney was largely using a debit card that had been issued to previous authorized users who were no longer affiliated with the UU Meeting House, according to Thompson. When a new card was mailed to the church’s post office box, Mooney picked it up and began using it, she said.

The church council, to which Mooney reported, is made up of all volunteers, with the positions turning over every two years, Thompson said.

“Things just inevitably get overlooked, assumed, as people take on those roles,” she said.

The money that Mooney allegedly stole included funds in a previously fundraised endowment, Thompson said. Originally, the UU Meeting House only used interest from the fund, but had been using some of the balance for operating expenses.

Jim Love, a leader at the Universalist Unitarian Meeting House of Pittsfield walks Jan. 23 through the building’s auditorium. The congregation has about 15 active members, many of whom are older and have been members for decades, according to a church official. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

The congregation has about 15 active members, many of whom are older and have been members for decades, according to Thompson.

Before the alleged theft in 2024, the church was already struggling, Thompson said. At the end of 2023, the congregation stopped holding services at its historic church on Easy Street because the building needed many costly repairs.

The congregation now meets twice a month at the Pittsfield Public Library at 110 Library St., according to its website.

The church building on Easy Street was put up for sale, Thompson said, but has since been taken off the market as leaders take another look at what is needed. The building is expected to be listed again.

And now, the future of the Pittsfield congregation is even more uncertain.

“We have people on fixed incomes having a hard time putting a dollar in the collection plate on Sundays,” Thompson said.