Free Republic

The Catholic priest who lived the high life on money he stole from his well-to-do Rumson parish has spent his first night behind bars. The Rev. Joseph W. Hughes was locked up in the Monmouth County Jail yesterday afternoon after a Superior Court judge turned aside his pleas for leniency and sentenced him to five years in prison. Hughes soon will be moved to state custody, and the judge likely will recommend incarceration in a minimum security prison. Superior Court Judge Bette E. Uhrmacher disagreed. She told Hughes that his theft of church money had eroded the trust parishioners have...