Ex-bookkeeper gets 2 years in prison

A former bookkeeper was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing about $420,000 from a Peachtree City church, according to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

C. Alana Vines, 38, of Sharpsburg, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December.

According to U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak, an unnamed church hired Vines as a temporary bookkeeper in March 2013, then kept her on full-time beginning in August of that year.

In her position, she wrote checks, paid bills, handled electronic bank transfers, made entries in the church’s accounting software and prepared financial statements, authorities said.

The church learned of the misspending when it hired an auditor to examine its books in 2017.

“Stealing from a church is a despicable crime,” Pak said.

The auditor noticed that cash deposits in the bank were about $1,000 less than the amount that had been counted at the time of the collections, authorities said.

When interviewed about the discrepancy, Vines admitted to stealing about $1,000 from the church.

An investigation, however, revealed she had been writing checks for much more to herself and her affiliated businesses without the church’s knowledge, Pak said.

Vines sometimes forged the church treasurer’s signature, falsified accounting records and falsely recorded that the checks had paid vendors for maintenance, repairs, building security, janitorial supplies, mission support, small group ministry, stewardship and insurance expenses.

Vines also failed to record many of the fraudulent checks in the church’s accounting software, causing it to overstate how much money it had.

She racked up Amazon purchases and more than $20,000 for computers, video equipment, pool supplies, golf equipment, clothing, shoes and jewelry, Pak said.

“We hope that today’s federal prison sentence will bring some solace to the church and its members, and deter others who might consider stealing from vulnerable victims like churches and charitable organizations,” Pak said.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten ordered Vines to pay $420,620 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after her prison term.