Gregory Allen Madeya #
Introduction #
Gregory Allen Madeya is a 69-year-old former priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church who spent decades in Western Pennsylvania ministry before his August 2026 arrest on charges that he stole more than $740,000 from the churches he served, their parishioners and donors — and from his own elderly mother, whose finances he controlled as power of attorney. Prosecutors allege the money bankrolled heroin, hotel meetings for sex, lavish vacations and a cash-bought Ford Mustang. The New York Post revisited the case on September 9, 2026, with a caustic “priest from hell” write-up that recirculated the scandal nationally months after Pennsylvania’s attorney general announced the charges.
Background Information #
Madeya, of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, served as a priest in Ukrainian Catholic parishes in the Pittsburgh area, including the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Derry Township and parishes affiliated with Ukrainian Catholic communities in McKeesport and Jeannette; reporting also ties him to St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in McKeesport, where investigators examined financial practices including offerings and fundraising income that allegedly failed to reach church accounts. By the time of his arrest he was living in Vero Beach, Florida. He also served as power of attorney for his elderly mother, who prosecutors say could no longer manage her own finances.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #
Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, court filings and news reports including the New York Post, TribLive and Premier Christian News. Gregory Allen Madeya has been criminally charged but not tried; the charges are not convictions and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Nothing here has been admitted by Madeya or adjudicated in court, and no denial by him appears in the coverage cited.
According to the Attorney General’s office, the alleged thefts began around 2018 and total $740,409.96 across three Western Pennsylvania churches, parishioners, donors, the Knights of Columbus fraternal organization and Madeya’s mother. Investigators say he withdrew $75,000 from the general fund of the Derry Township church where he served between 2021 and 2022, stole collection money outright — some of it snatched from church collection envelopes — and misappropriated $319,997.03 meant for churches and followers. He is also accused of taking more than $230,000 from his mother’s investment accounts (TribLive, cited by the Post, put the figure near $250,000) while she was evicted from multiple nursing homes over unpaid bills, and of leaving more than $248,000 in unpaid tax liabilities from the allegedly stolen proceeds.
The most lurid allegations concern where the money went. Prosecutors allege Madeya used some of it to buy heroin to exchange for sex acts with a man he would meet at hotels, and that he paid more than $35,000 in cash for a 2018 Ford Mustang that was given to a man living with him. He is also accused of trying to sell a gold chalice originally purchased for $19,440 — a jeweler told investigators Madeya had approached him about offloading it. During the three-year probe, investigators reported finding church collection envelopes in his trash and photographs of church debit cards and bank documents on his personal devices.
“It is unconscionable to see a supposed man of God exploiting not only the churches he served, but his own mother,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement announcing the arrest, noting the elderly woman was “of the age when she could not manage her own finances.” “This defendant abused the trust of those around him, and left them to recover from mammoth financial losses,” Sunday said.
Public Reaction and Consequences #
The church suspended Madeya in February 2024 as the investigation closed in, and he has not returned to ministry since. He was arrested in Vero Beach, Florida, on August 14, 2026, and extradited to Pennsylvania, where he was charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent person, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities and access device fraud. His bail was set at $25,000. The Post’s September 2026 revival of the story — “sprung” framing and mugshot front and center — drew fresh national attention to a case that had already been catalogued by religion-focused outlets tracking clergy financial scandals.
Current Status #
Madeya remains jailed at the Westmoreland County Prison per court records; he appeared in court with his attorney and waived his preliminary hearing, and the Post reports he is due back in court next month. The criminal charges remain pending, and no trial date has been reported in the coverage cited.
Impact on Their Career/Life #
Whatever the court outcome, Madeya’s priesthood is over: suspended since February 2024 and referred to in later coverage as a former priest, he now faces trial as an accused embezzler rather than a shepherd of parishes, with restitution-scale losses — more than $740,000 by the prosecution’s count — spread across congregations, donors, a fraternal organization and his own mother. For the Ukrainian Catholic communities of Western Pennsylvania, the case added a financial-abuse scandal to the clergy-trust genre, prosecuted at the state’s highest law-enforcement level and preserved in a booking photo that now defines his public image.