FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (BP) — A church secretary in Florida has been arrested and charged with grand theft after it was discovered she had racked up more than $570,000 in personal charges on a church credit card over a period of years.
Melissa Ganey English, 44, was a financial secretary for Amelia Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Fernandina Beach, from January 2019 to October of last year.
Sometime last year, two new finance committee members noticed discrepancies in the church’s financial records. In reviewing statements from a church credit card in English’s name, they discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of personal expenses.
English used to card for Amazon and Walmart purchases as well as extravagant items like Sea World tickets, Airbnb rentals, hotel stays and even a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon.
“The suspect abused her position of trust for years, using church funds meant for ministry and community service to instead fund her personal lifestyle,” said Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper. “Our office is committed to seeking justice for the victims of this extensive financial crime.”
When confronted, English confessed to the crime, and her employment was terminated.
In a statement, church leadership said the church is fully cooperating with law enforcement and that no other church members have been implicated in the crime.
“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,” the statement said. “Amelia Baptist Church remains committed to the values that make us a church family.
“We continue to work diligently to proclaim the good news of the gospel, to see lives transformed by the love of Jesus and care for people. While events such as this could cause us either to feel despair or have a sense of superiority, the Bible is clear that we all have a sinful nature and thus we must approach this with humility: because apart from Christ we are all capable of much worse (Matthew 15:19); and hopefully, by placing our faith in Jesus we can be transformed (Romans 10:13).”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Laura Erlanson is managing editor of Baptist Press.)
