(ABC 6 News) — In Wabasha, a clergy member at the Diocese of Winona-Rochester resigned. This comes after he allegedly asked parishioners for gifts and loans.

ABC 6 News located court documents alleging that Father Prince Amala Jesuraja Jebamalia Selvaraj (Father Prince Raja) had taken $72,000 in “loans for fraudulent reasons.”.

Wabasha Police refused to comment on the ongoing investigation.

However, public documents allege that in mid-July, a parishioner contacted Wabasha law enforcement and said Raja had met with her and asked for $5,500 –ostensibly for a family member’s medical bills.

The woman told police she offered to raise the money for him “in two days,” and Raja said he would lose his job for asking parishioners for money if she did.

The documents allege that woman spoke to two other churchgoers, who said “he got (them) too,” and they had given Raja money.

Wabasha police allegedly spoke with another churchgoer, who said she’d given Raja $2,365, which he said was to cover his MN tax payment until he had more funds in his account.

On Sept. 9, per court documents, Attorney Thomas Braun allegedly gave Wabasha police a spreadsheet of Raja’s “activities,” which detailed $71,950 in fraudulent “loans.”

“This includes a check written to Father Prince from the Diocese to repay what he had taken,” documents allege.

The document further claims $5,530 of the money was repaid to parishioners, while $6,965 follars were gifted to Raja for “things that the money was not actually used for.”

“The Diocese also located money given in the amount of $19,000 from a family when he was working as a priest in the state of Wisconsin,” according to court documents.

Rev. William D. Thompson with the Diocese of Winona-Rochester released the following statement. He did not clarify how, if the diocese gave Raja a check to repay parishioners’ money, parish funds were unaffected.

“Fr. Prince resigned as pastor of St. Felix in Wabasha and St. Agnes in Kellogg on September 1, 2024. On July 30, 2024, he returned to India for personal reasons.

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester became aware of Fr. Prince’s behavior of requesting gifts and loans from parishioners on May 1, 2024 and he was asked to cease such activity with the warning that he may be removed as pastor if the behavior continued. When it was discovered that Fr. Prince had subsequently requested money from another parishioner, his resignation was requested.

No parish funds were affected by Fr. Prince’s actions and the Diocese of Winona-Rochester has communicated all activity and Fr. Prince’s resignation to his diocese in India and to local law enforcement.  The Diocese of Winona-Rochester is working with local law enforcement regarding this matter.

Thank you.

The Very Reverend William D. Thompson, JCL“