MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist church in East Tennessee is considering cutting back on ministries amid reports that a trusted employee of 47 years embezzled more than $1.5 million in church funds.
Barbara Whitt (Hamblen County Sheriff's Department photo)
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Police arrested Barbara Whitt, 68, longtime financial secretary at First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tenn., May 10 after a church audit found nearly $500,000 in funds were missing. She is out of jail on $175,000 bond.
By May 26 local media were reporting that the amount of money stolen could be $1.5 million, making it the biggest theft in the history of Hamblen County.
"We're not going to stop the programs entirely," First Baptist Pastor Dean Haun told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "But we might have to tap on the brakes."
Haun, who came as pastor of the 1,800-member congregation in 2008 from First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ga., said the greatest thing Whitt stole was their trust. Though not a church member — she belongs to nearby Grace Baptist Church, also a Southern Baptist congregation — Haun said members of First Baptist viewed her as family and would have helped her if she had a need.
Whitt, a widow, is accused of writing 1,647 checks to herself between January 2008 and mid-April of this year. Investigators say that each of the checks was larger than $900 and totaled an average of more than $50,000 each month.
Taken from an account that funds things like scholarships and ministries, the checks would allegedly start in the church's accounting program made out to "cash." Whitt would then get one of the church's authorized officials to sign the check, add "Barbara Whitt" on a typewriter and then cash it during her lunch hour at a nearby Suntrust Bank.
Police said they don't know the motive for the alleged thefts. Neighbors said they had noticed her making a lot of large purchases recently and thought she might have won the lottery.
Whitt is scheduled to face a grand jury July 2. If convicted she could be sentenced from eight to 12 years in prison.
First Baptist Church reportedly filed a civil lawsuit against Whitt to try to stop her from selling any of her property. Grace Baptist Church also has filed a civil lawsuit against Whitt and her son, Michael, who owns a business called Whittco Electric Company housed at her home.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.