WATERBURY, Conn. -- A well-known Roman Catholic priest who stole $1.3 million from the Sacred Heart parish over seven years said he "had grown to hate being a priest" because the archdiocese had given him the "worst church assignments" where he would "have to fix problems made by the previous priests," according to a police affidavit.

The Rev. Kevin J. Gray, 64, was charged with first-degree larceny. Police said he used church funds to pay for hotels, restaurant meals, clothing and male escorts. Father Gray turned himself in to authorities Tuesday morning and was to be arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court.

Waterbury police launched an investigation after the archdiocese came to them May 27 and said it had uncovered unauthorized payments from church funds to accounts held by Father Gray and other suspicious transactions, according to the affidavit.

Father Gray wrote checks to himself, paid off his American Express bills, allowed two men to have credit cards in their names on his account and paid for various other expenses -- including tuition to Harvard and rent in New York City for a man he met in Central Park -- using the church's bank account, the document states.

Father Gray was placed on medical leave April 15 by Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell. The priest had told people in the community that he was gravely ill. No one at Sacred Heart or St. Peter and Paul Church, whose rectory Father Gray had been staying in, had heard from him since April 13.

Father Gray has been living with Weirui Zhong, 35, in New York City since he left the St. Peter and Paul rectory, according to the affidavit. Father Gray has been paying the apartment's rent as long as Mr. Zhong has been living there -- since 2005.

Father Gray told Mr. Zhong that he was an attorney for Catholic Charities in New Haven, and that he had attended Georgetown law school. He also told Mr. Zhong he was being treated for colon cancer at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York.

Father Gray would come to New York on Wednesdays after 8 a.m. Mass. He told Mr. Zhong that he had his cancer treatments each Wednesday, the affidavit states. He would then stay a few days, returning to Waterbury in time for Saturday's 4 p.m. Mass.

Mr. Zhong told police in a sworn statement that Father Gray has also been paying his Harvard University tuition since 2008.

He said the priest bought a piano for the apartment and paid for piano lessons, took him to dinner when they were together in New York, paid for his attorney in a court case, bought dogs for the apartment and paid the veterinarian bills and gave him large sums of money for his birthday and when Father Gray felt that he was going to die of cancer.

While police questioned Mr. Zhong on June 10, Father Gray arrived at the apartment. Mr. Zhong asked police if he could speak with the priest first. In detectives' presence, Mr. Zhong asked Father Gray if he was an attorney, if he had ever attended Georgetown, if he ever had any cancer. The priest replied "no" to each, the affidavit states.

Since May 24, 2003, $655,936.48 worth of checks from church funds were cashed by American Express to pay charges on Father Gray's account, the affidavit states. Charges between May 2003 and March 2010 included $205,679.78 to restaurants in New York, Boston and Connecticut, including several visits to New York's Tavern On The Green, Boston's Legal Seafood and New Haven's Scoozzi Trattoria and Wine Bar, the affidavit states.

Father Gray also charged nearly $150,000 in stays at high-end hotels in New York City, Boston and New Haven, including frequent stays at The Roosevelt, the W and the Waldorf Astoria in New York, police said.

The affidavit also states that Father Gray opened credit card accounts in the names of Manuel Paque, a man he met at a male strip bar, and Islagar Labrada, a man he met through an escort service -- both paid through Father Gray's account.

Father Gray has served in Waterbury for 26 years, first at St. Margaret's and St. Cecilia's churches before arriving at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon.

The church requires each parish to have a parish financial council to work with the pastor on fiscal matters, but Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon did not have such a panel, the Rev. John P. Gatzak, a spokesman for the Hartford Archdiocese said.

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