A federal judge ordered a former church office manager to pay $912,000 in restitution for embezzling money from a Baptist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and failing to pay taxes.
Katrenia Hartman, former office manager at Trinity Baptist Church in Tulsa, pleaded guilty in January to bank fraud and willfully filing a false federal income tax return.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Hartman, 55, to serve 30 months in prison and five years of supervised release, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Oklahoma. She also must pay the IRS more than $177,000 in restitution and more than $735,000 to Trinity Baptist.
Hartman, who served as the church office manager for over 16 years, would sign checks made out to her and forge the additional signature needed, authorities said. She reportedly attempted to cover up the theft by entering false descriptions into the church’s bookkeeping system.
According to a Victim Impact Letter only identified by the initials R.H. in the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, Hartman’s crime “was not a victimless crime, nor is it a crime impacting only one person or single entity.”
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“Ms. Hartman’s actions obviously exhibit a betrayal of trust, but more notably injured the multitudes of members who donated the funds that were stolen,” the federal court pleading stated. “This theft did not just harm the church’s operations every year she embezzled, but collaterally deprived others outside the church who would have ultimately benefited from these funds had she chosen not to steal.”
She also claimed more than $78,000 in fake medical and dental expenses to reduce her tax liability and she failed to report the funds to the IRS.
Hartman is to report to the Bureau of Federal Prisons on Oct. 2.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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2 Responses
Kudos to the church for pressing charges.
Too often Christians misapply I Corinthians 6 as a prohibition on any legal action against fellow believers, regardless of the circumstances. My read of the passage is that civil disputes of minor amounts between a few individuals should be mediated by elders rather than brought to a court of law.
This case, in contrast, involves criminal offenses, significant sums of money and hundreds of victims over many years. That’s a job for law enforcement, not pastors or elders. I take no pleasure in this woman’s punishment, but my experience as an auditor teaches that embezzlers will continue their thefts until prosecuted. The no-legal-action-allowed interpretation would render such a felon immune from serious consequences, and that’s a disservice to her, the church and the entire community.
I agree wholeheartedly. My guess is that a lot of those parishioners were from modest circumstances and many donated sacrificially towards their church. Scandalous if this ne’er-do-well were to be allowed to get away with her perfidy in robbing these congregants.