Former Church Secretary Sentenced for 18 Months in Prison for Stealing $89K from Her Church

By admin On Apr 11, 2023

A former church secretary from Alabama was recently sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison after stealing over $89,000 from her church, using the funds for personal expenses, and gambling it away at casinos.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, 59-year-old Carmen Ramer Davis from Opp was sentenced to 18 months in prison last Thursday. From 2006 through 2019, she served as secretary for Brooklyn Congregational Methodist Church in Coffee County, where she had access to the church’s bank accounts and had the authority to pay for the church’s bills and expenses.

Davis will also have to pay $89,440.32 in restitution to the church since that is the amount she stole and will have one year of supervised release after she’s released on probation, The Christian Post reports.

“The crimes committed by Ms. Davis victimized an entire faith community,” said United States Attorney Sandra J. Stewart. “The harm will continue to be felt for quite some time. I hope the imposed sentence will deter others from engaging in such deceitful conduct.”

Davis also acquired a debit card connected to the church’s bank account despite the congregation not knowing about it. She used the card for fraudulent cash withdrawals, cashing checks for herself, personal purchases at retailers, and trips to casinos based in Alabama and Mississippi.

According to the DOJ, her actions were not discovered until August 2019 when the bank informed a church leader that the church had an account, “indicating there were insufficient funds to cover a $75 check written against the church’s account.”

The Christian Post also reported that another church secretary in Alabama pled guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud last August for embezzling approximately $209,000 from First Baptist Church of Foley from 2007 to 2019.

Sharon Collins, the former secretary of FBC Foley, admitted that she used cards under both her name as well as the names of coworkers to steal the money from her church and spent it on various expenses, including satellite TV bills, airfare, and a college degree.

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.

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