The theft of more than $760,000 from Chester United Methodist Church ruined the parish’s credit, forced layoffs of church staff, caused mission programs to be eliminated and necessitated $200,000 in loans to pay bills as the congregation struggled to recover.
The church’s pastor and two other parish leaders testified Wednesday in Chesterfield Circuit Court about the devastating effects — emotional and financial — that former church finance administrator Jerri S. Hunter fostered by embezzling at least $760,389 from the church over 4½ years through deceptive bookkeeping practices.
“When our congregation first heard that Jerri Hunter had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from our treasury, the reaction was anger, hurt, disbelief, betrayal and great sorrow,” James Watkins, lay leader of the 1,400-member congregation, wrote in a victim-impact statement.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
6 comments:
NO Audit I guess
I would encourage every church in this country to have an audit done. While this woman is certainly a poster child for this despicable crime, she is far from being the only one to steal from church assets.
Yes, it would be "insulting" for some, but church boards need to know that their assets are protected.
Par for the course.
I'm surprised that this didn't happen in P.G. County.
$1000 a month for 760 months. 63 years. She'll find a way around paying.
By the way, was this person also collecting welfare checks and food stamps the entire time?
Sounds like the person who worked at United Needs & Abilities, and stole tens of thousands of dollars of social security money from their consumers.
Post a Comment