St. Jude the Apostle Church in Erie, Pennsylvania, has held a car raffle for two decades. This year’s winner was Martin Anderson of Detroit. The issue? He allegedly does not exist.

Erie County District Attorney’s Office is now investigating the raffle as well as the church’s pastor, Rev. Ross R. Miceli.

According to Erie Times-News, citing the search warrants in the case, Miceli admitted he made up the winner’s name. The winner was able to choose between a 2024 Corvette Stingray sports car and $50,000 in cash. The alleged winner chose the cash.

The tickets were $50 each for the raffle which featured the $82,000 orange convertible Stingray 1LT.

The raffle was held online and the “winner” was announced on Christmas Eve.

The church said “ticket holders were assigned random numbers via computer. The four-digit number on the winning ticket had to match the winning number in that evening’s Pick 4 Pennsylvania Lottery drawing.”

As pastor, Miceli was in charge of the raffle.

“Father Ross Miceli was responsible for overseeing the 2024 raffle,” according to the affidavits of probable cause. “The church staff sells electronic tickets, at $50 each, throughout the year, and the goal is to sell 9,999 tickets. Ticket purchasers of the 2024 raffle were eligible to win multiple prizes; the grand prize was either a 2024 Corvette Stingray 1LT (valued at over $82,000) or $50,000 cash.”

“Father Miceli admitted that he fabricated the grand-prize winner’s name,” according to the affidavits of probable cause. The affidavits identify Miceli by name, but not the employee who he allegedly confided in and alerted the Diocese of Erie. The diocese then told the DA’s office.

“Bishop (Lawrence) Persico confronted Father Miceli about this allegation, and Father Miceli admitted to fabricating the grand prize winner’s name but insisted the prize money was still in an account,” according to the affidavit.

Miceli, according to the affidavits, “made mention” that the employee “needed to keep this secret.”

Miceli told the employee he made up the winner’s name because “there had been a problem with the raffle system, so the winning ‘Pick 4’ number, ‘5851,’ didn’t have anyone assigned to it,” according to the affidavits.

Now, Miceli, 42, is being investigated on allegations of rigging a publicly exhibited contest and tampering with records or identification, first-degree misdemeanors; and theft by unlawful taking or disposition, which would be a felony based on the amount of loss under investigation.

No one has been charged; the investigation is continuing, Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said. 

“The Diocese of Erie is aware of an active investigation involving St. Jude the Apostle Parish and its pastor, Father Ross Miceli,” the diocese said in a statement. “We are committed to transparency, and we are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities. At this time, we cannot provide further information as the investigation is ongoing.”

The grand prize is not the only prize Miceli manipulated, according to the allegations in the search warrants.

In the “12 days of Christmas” raffle, ticket holders could win $500 a day leading up to Christmas Eve.

Miceli personally selected some of the winners for the $500 prizes, according to affidavits for some of the warrants.

Miceli “admitted to publicly falsifying the results of the grand prize winner for the raffle. (He) also admitted to four other occasions, during the ’12 days of Christmas’ 2024, where there was no name associated with the winning number, so he personally chose the winners. The winners he chose were either favored parishioners or family friends,” per the affidavits.

“He also admitted to moving the $50,000 from the car raffle account to another account, because the other account was an interest-bearing account. When asked if the account was in his name or the church’s, he related the account belongs to the church. We learned that Father Ross solely oversees the bank accounts,” the affidavits said.

According to the church’s website, the money from the raffles went to “feed and shelter the homeless, provide quality religious education to children, teens, and adults, enhance our liturgies and parish/school campus to be a welcoming place of belonging.”