Former church bookkeeper sentenced for stealing $129,000
A former bookkeeper of a Tustin church will spend 32 months in prison for stealing more than $129,000 from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Elyse Marie Kennedy, 37, of Santa Ana, wrote 154 checks to herself from church accounts beginning in January 2007, prosecutors said.
In January 2009, she took off with the church’s financial records.
Church officials contacted their bank -- and then the Orange County Sheriff's Department, which investigated the case.
Kennedy pleaded guilty to two felony forgery charges and was sentenced Thursday in Orange County Superior Court. She faces a financial restitution hearing in June.
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-- Mike Anton
Photo: Elyse Marie Kennedy's booking photo. Courtest of: KTLA-TV and the Orange County district attorney's office
EDITOR'S PICKS:
We'll accuse, charge try and imprison this piker. BUT... what about those who swindled the US tax payer out of billions? Why aren't Paulson, Dodd, Frank and others from the Banks and Wall Street in our courts???
Posted by: Norm Silver | March 25, 2011 at 11:05 AM
Nice to see the DA and church crucify this heartless thief.
Posted by: madsircool | March 25, 2011 at 11:09 AM
This woman was handling church funds? She looks like she belongs on the cover of a '50s pulp novel! Makes you wonder about the priest who hired her...
Posted by: Urba | March 25, 2011 at 06:35 PM
While I don't condone stealing, the way the Episcopal Church treats it's office staff is worse than Wal Mart would ever think of being able to get away with.
Posted by: Alan Selmanaj | March 27, 2011 at 09:24 AM