Florida Woman Accused Of Embezzling More Than Half A Million From Church

A Florida woman has been accused of embezzlement from the one place you definitely shouldn't be skimming - a church.

Working For The Church

The Sheriff's Office in Nassau County says Melissa English, who has served as the financial secretary for 11 years at the Amelia Baptist Church, has spent the past 5 years skimming over $570,000 from the church between January 2019 and October 2024.

After the church appointed two new financial committee members, they noticed discrepancies after reviewing bank documents and records. The money in the accounts were not as much as they should have been.

After looking through the church's credit card statements that was given specifically to English for expenditures, they found out that she'd used the card for hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.

English was fired immediately, and the church hired a contractor to review all the financial transactions that took place between 2019 and 2024 to see if there was anything else she did that was missed. Sure enough, the contractor found all sorts of discrepancies.

All The Fraud:

Here's some of the findings:

• 2019: Embezzled $40,000
• 2020: Embezzled $90,000 through unauthorized credit card charges, personal credit card payments , and extra payroll payments made out to herself.
• 2021: Embezzled $100,000, spending the money on Amazon purchases, SeaWorld tickets, Hey Dude shoes, hotel stays, airlines, and a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon
• 2022: Embezzled $125,000 on purchases including cruise lines, Airbnb rentals, concert tickets, and more
• 2023: Embezzled over $123,000 on fraudulent charges on Amazon, Walmart, and hotels
• 2024: Continuation of additional payroll payments and embezzlement of $90,000, spent on baseball tickets, cruise lines, hotels, and personal expenses.

The Charges

Melissa English was charged with grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony, for knowingly and unlawfully using the church’s credit card for personal expenses totaling over $500,000.