Federal grand jury indicts former treasurer for stealing more than $2 million from New Mexico abbey

A former member of a Norbertine community in New Mexico has been indicted on allegations that he stole millions of dollars from the religious group over the course of several months.

A grand jury handed down charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico alleging that James Owens stole funds belonging to the Norbertine abbey of Santa Maria de la Vid on the outskirts of Albuquerque.

The Jan. 21 charging document alleges that Owens, who reportedly became a brother at the abbey in 2009, began stealing money from the community in 2022. Owens, formerly a certified public accountant and lawyer, had been made treasurer of the organization in 2016, the same year he became a permanent member there.

As treasurer, he had signatory authority over the abbey’s financial accounts and was responsible for the payment of the community’s expenses.

Owens allegedly used “wire communications, monetary transactions,” and other methods to transfer over $2 million to multiple accounts he controlled. Some of the money was used to purchase a home in nearby Placitas, the grand jury said.

The transfers were carried out from around May 2022 to March 2023, the indictment says, during a development project to expand retreat facilities at the abbey.

In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico said Owens has been charged with “eight counts of wire fraud, 23 counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, and one count of attempt to evade and defeat tax.” He is facing 20 years in prison if convicted.

On its website, the Norbertine community says it established its abbey on property bought from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1995. The property had originally been run as a Dominican convent that replaced a late-1940s airstrip.

The facility offers retreat opportunities including “self-contained hermitages” and guest accommodations.

The community notes that “several of our brothers have their earthly resting places here in our communal cemetery.”

“As Norbertine brothers we will have an everlasting presence on this land,” the website says.