Three charged with embezzling from Sanford church
Three former employees of Grace Chapel Church have been charged with embezzling more than $335,000 combined from the Sanford church over the past nine years, authorities said Friday.
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Sherri Kelly Reynolds, 51, of Sanford, Bradley William Simon, 54, of Clover, S.C, and Elizabeth Yandle Perrell, 49, of Sanford, were each charged with embezzlement by local or charitable officer or employee. Simon was being held Friday in the Lee County jail under a $200,000 bond, while Reynolds and Perrell were each released on $5,000 bonds.
Reynolds previously worked as the finance manager for Grace Chapel Church, while Simon was an assistant to the chief financial officer and Perrell was a secretary at the church.
The State Bureau of Investigation alleged that Reynolds and Perrell rang up personal charges on church-issued credit cards. Reynolds' charges amounted to $133,370 between December 2006 and April 2012, while Perrell charged $43,336 from December 2006 through November 2008.
Simon made several unauthorized withdrawals from the church's bank account, totaling $105,456, from March 2013 through August 2013 and wrote $64,969 in unauthorized checks written against the church’s account from February 2013 through September 2013, according to the SBI.
The SBI was called in to investigate after the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received information about the church’s finances. The case remains under investigation.
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