Wayland United Methodist Church, Floyd County, KY.Member of secretive church set to enter plea in fraud case. They essentially filed false unemployment claims, collecting the payments while keeping the employees on the job at the pastor’s business. She was also corporate secretary to her pastor in his private business. Diane McKinny (pastor’s employee) has been charged federally for abusing unemployment insurance. Word of Faith Fellowship, Spindale, NC.Woman charged with stealing over $100,000 from Allentown church. Charmarie Colon (office administrator) charged with unauthorized credit card use in excess of $100,000. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Allentown, PA. Former church treasurer sentenced for embezzlement. Betty Wheaton (former treasurer) pled guilty to embezzling $515,283.71 over the last seven years. Bethel Lighthouse Baptist Church, Marietta, WV.She had convictions in 20-”one for theft and one for forgery.” Former church treasurer sentenced to jail, probation. Melissa Sistar (former treasurer) pled guilty to “criminal impersonation.” This was “for changing the value” on a check. Valley Christian Church, Kingman, AZ.Former pastor accused of stealing nearly $70,000 from local church. The loss was alleged to be nearly $70,000. George Darryl Harris (former pastor) arrested and charged with “theft of property and financial identity fraud.” The pastor allegedly confessed in a written affidavit. New Day Fellowship Church, Eureka Springs, AR.Ex-financial director embezzled $66K from Greek Orthodox churches. He also pled guilty to wire fraud in federal court. George Papadakos (Chief Financial Officer) pled guilty to embezzlement of $66,499. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, New York, NY.If you are looking for a name, use ‘control-F’ to search the list.
Please click on each link to read the underlying news report. There are many more to be uploaded, so please check back. These are just a few of the embezzlement incidents we have identified. Most entries on these pages only contain arrests, charges, or indictments, which may eventually be reduced, dropped, or expunged, and as such, these actors may in fact be innocent in a court of law. This is because church attempts to keep crimes quiet thus protecting their financial base and name brand. Some cases are only reported by Church Crime Information’s on our “scandal” page. Recent years might appear to have fewer cases due to the typical delay in detecting the crime of embezzlement. Because embezzlement can continue undetected for years, entries are sorted by the supposed ‘year of last alleged illegal activity’ for that church. Clearly what is presented here is a very, very small sampling of cases. Approximately 80% of embezzlement goes unreported to police. How common is church embezzlement? “About 1 in 10 Protestant churches has had someone embezzle funds, according to a new survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors from LifeWay Research” according to a report in Christianity Today.
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