MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (ABP) — Police in Morristown, Tenn., have made a second arrest in the investigation of a longtime financial secretary accused of embezzling $1.5 million from a Southern Baptist church.
According to local media, Michael Whitt, 42, has been charged with money laundering. Police said Whitt was involved with several bank transactions between July 2007 and April 30, 2010, totaling more than $450,000.
Whitt's mother, Barbara Whitt, financial secretary of Morristown's First Baptist Church for 47 years, was charged in May with what has been described as the largest theft in Hamblen County history. She was due to face a grand jury this month.
According to the Morristown Citizen-Tribune, police claim Michael Whitt converted money stolen from church funds into spendable cash by loading them onto a prepaid credit-debit card.
The newspaper quoted a detective as saying the last time Whitt applied money to the reloadable card was June 23 — 44 days after his mother's arrest on felony charges of theft over $60,000 and criminal simulation. If convicted, the 68-year-old widow faces up to 12 years in prison.
Police said large cash expenditures on the card began in July 2007, six months earlier than they originally thought Whitt's mother started stealing church funds.
Detective Bob Ellis with the Morristown Police Department told the newspaper that investigators now believe Michael Whitt was complicit from the outset. Ellis said it's unclear if Whitt used coercion to obtain money from his mother.
CBS affiliate WVLT in Knoxville reported July 28 that First Baptist Church members were focusing on forgiveness in the case. "There's been a real galvanizing of our fellowship in the midst of all this storm that we've walked through," said Dean Haun, pastor of the 2,500-member congregation.
Barbara Whitt, a 55-year-member of nearby Grace Baptist Church, returned to church July 4, her pastor told the station. "Just because she's sinned, doesn't mean that she's not a part of us any more," said Pastor Todd Stinnett.
Stinnett said Michael Whitt is also a member of the church.
"We still continue to pray for Michael, and everything that is going on in his life," Stinnett said. "We know that justice needs to be served in this circumstance, but we're just praying for the mercy of God, and the mercy of the courts, and the community."
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous ABP story:
Church secretary accused of embezzling $1.5 million (5/25/2010)