Church treasurer pleads to embezzling $80,000 [The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.]

Nov. 11--DURHAM -- A former church treasurer and Sunday school teacher pleaded guilty Friday to embezzling $80,000 from Sherron Acres Freewill Baptist Church on Lynn Road.

Linda Chambers, 60, was ordered to repay the $80,000, which she said she did on Friday.

Chambers was accused of stealing the money over a five-year period.

The Rev. Fred Johnson, pastor of the 26-member church, said the theft was a shock.

"Well, you usually trust the church treasurer," Johnson said. "We didn't have any idea that anything like this was happening until April, when we discovered something was going on. And that's when we got the ball rolling."

Durwood Currie, a church trustee, said he and Johnson went to Chambers's home and confronted her about the missing money. He said she confessed.

Currie said the money was taken from funds the church banked from the sale of a parsonage and rental property.

Johnson said the theft was discovered through bank statements and record-keeping discrepancies.

"She had been making ATM withdrawals," Johnson said.

Johnson said the actual shortfall totaled $125,000, but Chambers pled guilty to embezzling $80,000.

He said insurance will cover $25,000 of the loss.

"We just trusted her," Johnson said. "But we learned that you can't trust everybody -- that's for sure."

Chambers, who appeared in Durham Superior Court, received three years probation. She was ordered to do 50 hours of community service and was banned from church property.

In a telephone interview Monday, Chambers said she always planned to repay the money.

"It was always my intention to repay it, but the church did not see fit to allow me the time I needed to do that," Chambers said. "We had family problems. It was money that was just sitting there, and I borrowed it. I didn't see it as stealing or embezzling."

Johnson said that despite not getting all its money back, the church is satisfied with how the case was resolved.

"The Lord has blessed us," Johnson said. "She left us high and dry, but our offerings have been good, so we're doing fine."

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