News from around Wisconsin (10:33 p.m. 1/30/10)

Published: January 30, 2010

Western Wis. priest accused of embezzlement

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. (AP) — A western Wisconsin priest is accused of embezzling $196,000 from the Diocese of La Crosse and two Crawford County parishes.

Online court records indicate the Rev. Robert Chukwu, 59, was charged Friday with theft from a business setting of more than $10,000.

According to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, Chukwu allegedly took $196,000 from St. Mary Parish in Gays Mills and St. Philip Parish in Soldiers Grove and the La Crosse Diocese on Jan. 15.

The department said Chukwu confessed to diocese attorney Jim Birnbaum and another priest that he invested parish and diocese money in Nigeria for a better interest rate.

Chukwu holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Nigeria. He was in the Crawford County Jail Saturday. No defense attorney was listed in online records.

Braun to open restaurant in Lake Geneva

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers’ outfielder Ryan Braun wants to open a restaurant.

Braun and some other investors are in the process of converting the old Cactus Club in Lake Geneva into the “Ryan Braun’s Tavern & Grill.”

Tom Romano, part of the development group, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel it will open in early spring and seat as many as 240 people.

Romano said a booth promoting the restaurant will be set up on Sunday at the Midwest Airlines Center as part of the Brewers On Deck show.

Braun finished last season with 203 hits, and batted .320 with 32 home runs and 114 RBIs. He was a National League Silver Slugger award for the second year in a row.