Palm Beach police say a Wellington woman stole about $100,000 from a charity for the needy while working at a historic church.
An arrest report says the 51-year-old lady was arrested on May 12 and charged with an organized plan to defraud and money laundering three years after her alleged offenses were revealed at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. Records show she was freed from Palm Beach County Jail on a $20,000 bail the same day.
Palm Beach police discovered a church concern in May 2020. A church associate told them he saw a $2,400 check discrepancy when inspecting an account.
Police claimed the check was supposed to donate to the Vickers House, a community resource center for low-income senior persons, but was inadvertently sent to an organization with the woman’s initials. According to the report, the colleague denied knowing any group with such initials.
In June 2022, the colleague informed authorities the lady was the only one who could access the checks for that account, which helps individuals pay rent and other costs.
She was hired in March 2018 and took over the fund in April 2018. May 2020 saw her dismissal.
The employee stated she handled nonprofit grant requests and provided paperwork. The police report said that landlords, mortgage lenders, utility companies, and other receivers were to receive all payments.
The colleague informed investigators that a three- to five-member committee managed the fund and that the lady received donations from community-service groups. When the colleague investigated his records, he found that agencies’ initial requests had been changed, and the lady had been sending checks to committee members for them to sign “under false pretenses,” police said.
Police claimed the associate’s emails showed the lady changed a $1,470 request to $2,470.
Police said the associate contacted other agencies that had requested financial assistance from the church and were informed they had not received money “on multiple occasions” after the church promised it.
Police say Bethesda dismissed the lady in May 2020 and instructed her to return to the church’s computer tower after discovering this.
The associate’s finding that she distributed money from the account to an unauthorized individual and manipulated the documents contributed to her termination, the police report said.
Police stated the colleague found more corporate deposits with the woman’s initials after discovering the irregularities. The colleague called Lewis, Longman & Walker, the church’s West Palm Beach law firm.
The report stated attorneys recommended the church engage a forensic accountant to investigate the account.
The church’s accountant informed investigators that the fund paid out more than $142,000 during the woman’s tenure and that more than $97,000 was allegedly taken.
The arrest report indicated 69% of the account’s money was misused.
The accountant informed authorities that the lady collected $69,000 and alleged accomplices $28,000 from the account.
The accountant uncovered payments payable to the lady, one of her close friends, another close friend’s company, and an apartment building where one of her friends resided.
Police said the woman wrote checks from the church’s account to a company she owned at least three times for almost $15,000, listing the requesting agencies as “PBC Division of Human and Veteran Services,” “Homeless Program and Contract Manager: PBC Division,” and “Adopt-A-Family.”
Police claimed the lady wrote five more checks totaling over $17,000 to an account with her initials, again with requesting agencies that did not match the amounts.
The accountant revealed that the woman used the cheques to pay her Wellington property rent on Raintree Lane multiple times. Police said the lady claimed the payments were for Kate Braer, a fictional renter. Police say she even constructed a fake email account to commit fraud.
Police stated she paid her Florida Power & Light Co. payment with the amount.
A church fund committee member told police she felt misled by the woman and had no knowledge the checks were unlawfully written and authorized.
Bethesda-by-the-Sea was founded in 1889 and built-in 1925, making it Palm Beach County’s first church and South Florida’s oldest Protestant church.