Church Finance Director Facing Foreclosure Charged With Pocketing $37K In Bank Deposits

In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Pioneer Press reports:

• A former finance director for the Church of St. Bernard in St. Paul has been charged with embezzling $37,000 from church deposits and covering her tracks by moving money from church reserve accounts. Debra Ann Thompson, 44, of St. Paul, was hired in 2006 as a bookkeeper and was promoted the following year to director of business and finance, according to a complaint filed Thursday by the Ramsey County attorney's office. Among her duties: delivering church deposits to the bank.

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• When questioned by police, Thompson said her family owed $12,000 to the IRS, more than $15,000 to creditors and a large amount in medical bills. She admitted she altered deposit slips and took money for herself because of her financial turmoil but believed the total amount stolen was no more than $10,000. She said that most of the money she took went toward bills or mortgage payments, that her house was in foreclosure and that she had no food.

For more, see Finance director at St. Paul church charged with embezzling $37,000 (Family was having financial trouble, priest told cops).