LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Police say an employee at a central Kentucky abbey run by an order of Catholic monks has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $1 million from the institution.
Police say accountant John Hutchins began diverting money in 2008 from an account at the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown.
Nelson County Sheriff's Detective Jason Allison says Hutchins and his wife, Carrie, were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on multiple counts of felony theft over and under $10,000 and unlawful access to a computer among other charges.
An attorney for Hutchins did not return a call seeking comment.
The Trappist monks at the 166-year-old abbey take vows of silence.
The abbey became widely known by the books of Thomas Merton, who lived there for nearly three decades until his death in 1968.
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