Virginia Beach church embezzler gets four years

By Kristin Davis
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 21, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

A woman who admitted to taking more than a quarter-million dollars from the church where she worked will spend four years in jail, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Michele Moeser Roberts, a former financial administrator at Kings Grant Baptist Church, pleaded guilty in December to felony embezzlement, according to a news release from the commonwealth's attorney's office. Roberts, 62, worked at the church for more than a dozen years.

The thefts, which amounted to $287,678 between October 2004 and March 2010, were discovered only after she left the job, the news release said. Roberts wrote herself checks and gave bogus financial statements to the church treasurer. She also asked the Kings Grant Baptist pastor to cut the budget by 15 percent, blaming diminishing church offerings, prosecutors said.

Roberts said she took the money to assist family members, according to the news release, but witnesses testified that she received large pay raises at the church and never asked for help for her family.

Sentencing guidelines recommended Roberts serve no jail time, but Judge Leslie L. Lilley sentenced her to 20 years with 16 years suspended. He also ordered her to pay back the money she embezzled.

"The judge was truly sympathetic toward the church and toward Michele and seemed to pronounce a judgment that was appropriate for the crime," the Rev. Stanley "Skip" Wallace said in a statement released by the commonwealth's attorney's office.

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A lesson learned

Submitted by chillia on Thu, 04/21/2011 at 7:00 am.

Institutions, religious or not, should know that you never have a check signed by just one person. Or, when cash is invlolved it's never left in the presence of just one person. Quite a loss for this church. Despite the judges order to make restitution, sadly they probably won't see a penny of it. I hope they and others see the need to adhere to stricter accounting controls.