Owner of Catholic Online Website Thinks Charity Begins at Home (His)

Michael Galloway of Bakersfield, CA, who owned and operated one of the oldest websites on the Catholic internet, Catholic.org, was convicted on four counts of tax evasion by a jury in March 2018.

The Catholic Online website solicited donations to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. It was shown in court that Galloway used some of those funds for personal and business expenses, including his homeowner’s association fees on his personal residence, car payments, insurance, utilities, cable services, tile work and personal legal fees. Galloway did not report any of the money taken from the charities as income on his personal tax returns.

It was found that Galloway had underreported his income between 2003 and 2006 by at least $671,755, and one year Galloway reported an income of less than $30,000 a year although he lived in an $850,000 house.

Sentenced is scheduled for June 18, 2018 where he could receive a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine.