Saturday, November 22, 2008

Pennsylvania Church Treasurer Sentenced For $1.1 Million Embezzlement

Barry R. Herr, 62, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in federal prison for embezzling $1.1 million from the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where he had been employed as treasurer for 28 years. Herr, who pleaded guilty in June to mail fraud, also was ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution. He has already repaid $309,000, according to his attorney. According to reports, Herr spend the funds on a gambling habit, as well as on luxury automobiles and other personal items. The embezzlement reportedly went on over the 22 years he was employed by the church. Investigators said that Herr opened a fictitious bank account in 1985 under the name "Cardinal Investment Fund" and had been depositing and withdrawing church endowment funds into this account.

Read the story here, here and here.

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