Secretary Arrested For Embezzling $570,000 From SBC Church
A woman has been arrested and charged with embezzling more than half a million dollars from her Baptist church, according to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
Melissa Ganey English, 44, was the financial secretary of Amelia Baptist Church, a 400-member Southern Baptist church in Fernandina Beach, FL. Investigators say that while she spent 11 years on staff, she started pocketing money in 2019 to spend on personal expenses, allegedly stealing more than $570,000 in tithes and offerings over the next five years.
Thieving at a rate of about $100,000 a year, some of the things she purchased include SeaWorld tickets, concert tickets & baseball tickets, a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, and lavish hotel stays and cruises. According to WLBT:
Two new church financial committee members noticed discrepancies after reviewing bank documents and records, finding that funds were lower than they should have been. After reviewing credit card statements from a church credit card issued directly to English, they discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars had been used for her personal expenses.
“While the last few months have been incredibly hurtful and difficult, it would be easy to become distracted from our main mission as a church,” said Forrest Jones, one of the pastors at Amelia Baptist Church, “[we] remain committed to the values that make us a church family.”
English has been charged with grand theft of over $100,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.
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It’s always women bringing down these businesses. Read it countless times. You must have a minimum of TWO people to sign off anything financial.
Where were the Elders at during this?
Imagine having so much money that you think its ok to let a woman manage it because losing a few million is acceptable to you. Lord, let me have that much money! AMEN!