A former business manager of a church in Montgomery County was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly stealing $1.1 million from the house of worship, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office announced on Friday.
According to prosecutors, 60-year-old Sean Sweeney, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, stole around $1.1 million from Saint Matthias Church in Bala Cynwyd, where he worked as its business manager from 2017 to 2024.
As part of Sweeney’s role, it was his responsibility for sending payroll to the church’s records processing company, PrimePay, prosecutors said.
Sweeney would send two of his companies, Merrion Square Capital and Merrion Square Advisors, as parties that were owed money on the church’s payroll and then use the cash for personal expenses, such as tuition, car payments and vacations, prosecutors said.
In total, $1,134,906.35 was deposited into bank accounts owned and operated by Sweeney, prosecutors said.
The alleged crimes first came to light to prosecutors in Dec. 2024, when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office of Investigations referred the case to them, they said.
Sweeney was fired from his job as the church’s business manager that same year, prosecutors said.
Sweeney turned himself in on Nov. 20, 2025, and faces several felonies, including theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and unlawful use of a communication facility, prosecutors said.
Sweeney’s bail was set at $100,000.
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