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HOUSTON: Former Episcopal treasurer arrested
Diocese seeking $600,000 from property fund
By S.K. BARDWELL
Houston Chronicle
July 23, 2005
The former treasurer of the Houston-based Episcopal Diocese of Texas was arrested Thursday in connection with more than a half-million dollars that disappeared from a diocese fund.
Ronald D. Null, 59, was arrested after a grand jury indicted him on a charge of felony theft on Tuesday, records show. He remained in jail Saturday in lieu of a $100,000 bail.
The diocese announced last month it was investigating the disappearance of $600,000 from a $5.5 million fund used primarily for the purchase of property.
A statement released by the diocese last month said Null "misappropriated money from the diocese and concealed this fact, both from the diocese and its auditors, over a number of years."
The diocese announced it would order a special audit and turn the results over to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
Null's attorney, Robert C. Bennett, said last month that Null voluntarily brought the financial irregularities to the attention of the diocese, a point the diocese said was in dispute.
Bennett could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Null, who became treasurer for the diocese in 1995, resigned earlier this year to take the post of chief financial officer at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin.
A spokesman at the Austin school said Saturday that Null was to have begun the job Aug. 1 but never officially joined the staff.
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