The attorney for a Fenelton man accused of stealing funds from a religious social club for men in Herman asked a district judge Tuesday to drop all charges her client faces, citing a lack of evidence.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton declined to drop the charges and held them over for common pleas court.

Michael J. Schnur, 55, was arrested Sept. 25 after a yearlong investigation into Schnur's activities as the former treasurer for the Roman Catholic Men's Club in Herman.

Schnur, who resigned from his paid position at the end of 2016 after club members confronted him, is charged with stealing more than $30,000 from the club throughout 2016.

Schnur's lawyer, Rebecca Black, questioned authorities' calculations and said they hadn't provided enough evidence.

Schnur is charged with felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property and theft related to funds. After his arrest, he was released on his own recognizance.

“For you to hold these charges, you'd need to determine exactly how $31,588.75 was taken by Mr. Schnur,” Black said. “At the very least, the charges should be dropped with the opportunity for the commonwealth to refile if they can prove the exact amount.”

Assistant District Attorney Russ Karl argued that records were kept showing that Schnur siphoned the club's funds from various sources of income, including the bar profits and membership fees.

Karl said that any confusion over funds were a result of Schnur's alleged crimes and his purposeful obfuscation.

According to a police report, a detective with the Butler County District Attorney's Office spoke with club members who discovered the alleged theft.

The club members became aware of a theft after a fund raffle in 2016. They noticed a much smaller profit from the raffle compared to previous ones.

According to police reports, Schnur had been the club's treasurer for several years before that. One of Schnur's roles was to fill out a monthly report that tallied the club's sources of income. Schnur was then to deposit that money in a bank.

Police said the club's sources of income included the bar, hall rentals, membership dues and bingo funds.

When members started looking into the funds, they noticed a sharp decrease in reported income in 2016 compared to previous years.

In 2015, the club reportedly made $6,805 in membership dues. In 2016 it made a reported $1,360. The next year, with Schnur gone, it made $5,815. Police reported that membership remained consistent between those years.

Police cited similar declines in funds during Schnur's alleged year of theft in 2016. The club showed police copies of check deposits made to its PNC Bank account in June, July and August 2016.

During that time, the hall rental income brought in $6,116.75, but Schnur allegedly reported only $1,225 of that money to the club. Discrepancies of this sort from other sources of income were reported to police, totaling $10,718.75 in unreported income. When police confronted Schnur about the discrepancy, they said he could not provide an explanation.

After Schnur resigned, club members checked the amount of cash they had on hand and discovered, according to police, that there was $20,870 missing. Combined with the $10,718.75 in unreported income, police estimated that Schnur took $31,588.75 for his own use.