Former pastor in Winona-Rochester diocese accused of swindling parishioners out of $72,000

A former pastor for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester is being investigated for allegedly defrauding parishioners out of nearly $72,000.

Prince Amala Jesuraja Jebamalia Selvaraj, better known as the Rev. Prince Raja, resigned as pastor at St. Felix Catholic Church in Wabasha and St. Agnes Catholic Church in Kellogg on Sept. 1 after the diocese found that Selvaraj had been requesting personal gifts and loans from parishioners.

“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,” the Rev. William D. Thompson, with the diocese, said in a statement. “When it was discovered that Fr. Prince had subsequently requested money from another parishioner, his resignation was requested.”

A search warrant for Selvaraj’s bank records was issued on Sept. 12 after the diocese’s legal counsel provided police with detailed accounting of Selvaraj’s activity.

In July, he “returned to India for personal reasons,” the diocese said in its statement. The diocese declined a request for further comment.

The Wabasha Police Department was first tipped off to Selvaraj in July by a woman who said she and other parishioners had given Selvaraj money for what they later believed to be fraud, according to the warrant.

The woman said Selvaraj came to her and her husband looking for $5,500 to pay back a loan for his mother’s surgery. The woman said she could help Selvaraj raise the money in a couple of days, but Selvaraj told her he couldn’t do that because he could lose his job for asking parishioners for money, the warrant says.

The woman later spoke to friends who had also been approached by Selvaraj. “One of them said that he got her, too … the other one looked [at] both of them and stated that they had given him money as well,” the warrant says.

Police spoke with the son of a second woman who claimed to have given Selvaraj $2,355. Selvaraj allegedly told the woman he needed the money to help pay his state taxes.

The total sum taken by Selvaraj for fraudulent purposes amounted to $71,950, including a check made out to him by the diocese to repay what he had taken. Of that amount, $5,530 was repaid to parishioners, the warrant says.

Selvaraj received an additional $6,965 in gifts for “for things that the money was not actually used for,” the warrant says. The diocese also discovered Selvaraj had received $19,000 from a family in Wisconsin while he was a priest there from 2019-2024.