Ex-treasurer of Berks church gets probation in $400K theft

Pastor laments deal, loss of ‘hard earned contributions’

An Ontelaunee Township woman will serve 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $400,000 from a church where she had served as treasurer.

Melanie Lee Kummerer, 56, pleaded guilty before Berks County Judge Patrick T. Barrett on June 7 to one count of theft by unlawful taking and three counts of forgery, according to court documents. All four counts are felonies.

She has been sentenced to 10 years of probation and is barred from the church, Calvary Lutheran Church in Laureldale.

Kummerer of the first block of Loose Lane has also been ordered to pay $379,002 in restitution to the church, $25,000 to UFC Insurance and $11,441 to Brotherhood Mutual. It is unclear how much, if any, of that restitution has been paid.

According to investigators from the district attorney’s office, Kummerer forged more than 200 checks totaling $391,444 between 2009 and 2019 while serving as the central treasurer for Calvary Lutheran.

According to investigators:

Kummerer was appointed to the position in January 2009, and during her tenure kept the church’s financial records at her home.

In August 2018, the church received a new pastor, the Rev. Drew Neidig. During interviews with Neidig, church leaders raised concerns about the church’s finances.

As a result, in October 2018 the new pastor attended a finance committee meeting and asked Kummerer to provide church leadership with a balance sheet and income statement at all future meetings. At the following two meetings, Kummerer did not provide those documents, giving a variety of excuses for not doing so.

Kummerer resigned as treasurer in February 2019.

In October 2019, officials from the church provided a complete forensic audit of the churches financial records to county detectives.

Based on the audit and a criminal investigation, it was determined Kummerer had forged more the 200 checks. A warrant was issued for her arrest on March 3, 2020, and she surrendered to police the following day.

Kummerer was initially charged with 10 felonies and one misdemeanor. As part of the plea deal, many of those charges were dropped.

Church reaction

The Rev. Lauren Wolfe Blatt, interim pastor at Calvary Lutheran, said Monday that the church community is a bit disappointed by the result of Kummerer’s plea deal.

“I think overall our congregation is really grieving,” she said. “They wanted to see a greater punishment for such a large crime.”

Blatt said the crime was about more than just dollars and cents.

“When we think about it as just money, we can minimize it,” she said. “But when we think about it as peoples’ hard earned contributions to the church, it’s harder to swallow.”

Making things worse, Blatt said, is that the money that was stolen could have helped people in need. And despite Kummerer being ordered to pay restitution, it’s unclear if she will be able to ever repay what she took.

“We are a congregation that’s active and moving,” she said. “We are a congregation that uses the money we have to serve God’s people. We are sad that we won’t see the $400,000 she stole.”