THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506170365
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MCLEAN LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
The husband of a woman accused of embezzling $2.2 million from the Episcopal Church has resigned from the priesthood.
Nicholas T. Cooke III submitted his resignation this week, said Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia. Cooke earlier resigned his post as rector of a prestigious church in McLean, after revelations about his wife's theft while she was a top church official.
Ellen Cooke admitted taking the money over several years while she was treasurer of the national church. She has not been charged, although federal investigators are looking at the case, authorities said.
It is not clear whether Cooke knew his wife was taking church money for such things as a vacation home and private school tuition for their children.
Lee, in a letter to a superior, said he accepted Cooke's resignation from the priesthood ``for causes not affecting his moral character.''
Church officials discovered the embezzlement earlier this year, after Ellen Cooke had resigned as treasurer at the New York City headquarters. Nicholas Cooke was rector of a Montclair, N.J., church while his wife worked in the Episcopal headquarters. They moved to Virginia in April when Cooke took over at St. John's in McLean.
In her only public statement, Ellen Cooke said the embezzlement was a ``cry for help.''
``I am one of a small percentage of the population who by reason of personality are simply unable to stop in the face of enormous pressures and stress,'' she said in a statement released by her lawyers last month. by CNB