Corvette raffle at Erie Catholic church went awry. Refunds are coming

Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News

Sun, December 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM UTC

5 min read

A year after an Erie Roman Catholic church held a Corvette raffle that ended up botched, the parish has started the process to refund those who bought tickets.

St. Jude the Apostle Church is accepting refund applications through Jan. 3, the Catholic Diocese of Erie said in a statement to the Erie Times-News on Dec. 7.

St. Jude had been reviewing plans for refunds since August, and the diocese considered redoing the raffle. The diocese opted for refunds because "a legally compliant redo of the raffle is not possible under Pennsylvania’s Small Games of Chance law," the diocese said in the statement.

St. Jude Catholic Church, 2801 W. Sixth St. in Millcreek Township, is refunding ticketholders in a botched 2024 car raffle.

The diocese also said "there is insufficient information to conduct a new raffle that would offer each participant an equal chance of winning."

St. Jude is offering the refunds as its former pastor, the Rev. Ross R. Miceli, remains under criminal investigation for allegations that he rigged the raffle and improperly spent parish funds.

Church says bishop backs refund program

Tickets in the St. Jude Winavette raffle were $50, and the grand prize was a new Corvette Stingray or $50,000 in cash. The grand prize drawing was on Christmas Eve 2024.

The criminal investigation revealed that Miceli awarded the $50,000 to a person he said lived in Detroit but who does not exist, according to search warrants that the Erie County District Attorney's Office filed in the probe. The investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed.

St. Jude aimed to sell 10,000 tickets for the 2024 raffle — an annual event that had been the major fundraiser for the church at 2801W. Sixth St. in Millcreek Township, one of the largest parishes in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie. The parish held no car raffle in 2025.

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico placed Miceli on leave without an assignment on Aug. 7 in response to the revelations about the raffle, which the Erie Times-News first reported on Aug. 6. Miceli, 42, whose final services at St. Jude were Aug. 3, is at a residence in Erie, Persico has said.

Persico and his administration initiated the criminal investigation and consulted with St. Jude on the refund process. An independent accounting firm, HBK, is managing the refunds, the diocese said.

The diocese said St. Jude's new pastor, the Rev. Michael Polinek, has worked with the diocese, HBK and the District Attorney's Office since August, and now has all the information for the parish to start offering refunds.

A 2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray sports car was stored outside a garage at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Millcreek Township on Aug. 12. The car was the grand prize of the Roman Catholic church's 2024 raffle, in which the pastor at the time told investigators he made up the winner's name.

The parish and not the diocese is responsible for the refunds, according to the diocese. The diocese said St. Jude parishioners were told of the refund process at Masses this weekend.

"With the full support of our bishop, and to ensure full compliance with laws pertaining to Small Games of Chance, I determined that the most responsible and compliant course of action is to issue full refunds for the 2024 Winavette Car Raffle," Polinek said in the Dec. 7 statement. "I am grateful for the community’s understanding and trust as we work through this process with full transparency."

What is process to get a refund?

The diocese said ticketholders can apply for refunds by telephone or email: 888-341-6210 or 814-217-8901 or stjude.refund2024@outlook.com. Ticketholder must provide a ticket stub or other proof of purchase. The diocese has set up a website to guide ticketholders through the process at eriercd.org/refund.html .

St. Jude no longer has the Corvette, which the parish displayed at the corner of West Sixth Street and Peninsula Drive in the months leading up to the raffle.

St. Jude sold the Corvette, a 2024 orange Stingray 1LT, back to the dealer, Hallman Chevrolet in Erie, Erie accountant Jim Schaffner told the Erie Times-News in August. Schaffner assisted the diocese early in the investigation of the raffle.

St. Jude bought the car ahead of the raffle, Schaffner said in August. He said the Corvette cost $82,000, and that Hallman's bought it back for $60,000.

Erie Catholic Lawrence T. Persico initiated the criminal investigation over the 2024 car raffle at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Millcreek Township.

If Hallman's resold the Corvette for more than $60,000, Hallman's agreed to donate the additional money to St. Jude, Schaffner said. He said St. Jude intended to use the sale proceeds and any other money from Hallman's to cover the refunds.

Fake winner key evidence in fraud probe over raffle

The Catholic Diocese of Erie initiated the criminal investigation of Miceli in February, according to the search warrants the District Attorney's Office filed in the case. The warrants show the diocese contacted the District Attorney's Office after an employee at St. Jude raised concerns about the raffle and after Miceli then told Persico he made up the name of the grand-prize winner — "Martin Anderson," of Detroit.

Miceli said Anderson chose the $50,000 instead of the Corvette, but that the $50,000 remained in a St. Jude account, according to the warrants.

The investigation of the raffle expanded to examine the finances of St. Jude under Miceli, the pastor from July 2022 to August 2024.

Using search warrants sworn out in March and June, detectives with the District Attorney's Office seized financial records related to the raffle as well records connected to $300,000 in expenditures on an American Express card between January 2024 and March 2025, according to the search warrants. The money to pay the credit card bills, according to the warrants, came out of church accounts that Miceli alone controlled.

The detectives cited Miceli's possessions — such a new Tesla, multiple pairs of expensive sneakers and other shoes, Disney collectibles and the casino membership cards — to establish the probable cause to get banking records and records related to the American Express account. Detectives also found membership cards to at least a dozen casinos when they searched St. Jude's offices and the church rectory where Miceli lived, according to the warrants.

"All of these behaviors appear inconsistent with his reported modest income and living expenses, which are largely covered by the church," according to the affidavit of probable cause for one of the warrants.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@usatodayco.com or 814-870-1813.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Catholic church launches refund program over flawed car raffle

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