Man May Have Embezzled From Church in Florida

A church deacon is free from jail after 18 months behind bars.

Charles Harden was supposed to go on trial today for grand theft and fraud. Yet late last week, prosecutors dropped the charges.
Harden was accused of stealing more than one hundred thousand dollars from Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.
Court documents say as project manager, Harden was supposed to pay subcontractors to build and pave a parking lot, but ultimately used a lot of the money to pay his own bills.
Prosecutors say they couldn't prove Harden intended to take the money all along, which is required under the language of Florida statutes.
For a more detailed explanation of why the charges were dropped, we have attached the prosecutor's request above.
The church pastor had no comment on the charges being dropped.
Defense attorney Annabelle Dias also had no comment.
Grand theft and fraud charges against a deacon at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church have been dropped on the eve of trial.
Court records show that charges against Charles Harden were dropped Thursday afternoon and he was released from jail about 40 minutes later.
We are still trying to reach the attorneys to find out why charges were dismissed ... as well as reach a spokesperson for the church for comment.
A deacon accused of ripping off his own church will sit in jail longer than expected.
57-year-old Charles Harden is charged with embezzling more than 200-thousand dollars from Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee.
Law enforcement says Harden misused money the church paid him to construct a new parking lot... by paying off personal bills.
Harden was scheduled for a case management Monday morning... but his case was not set for trial... instead it was re-set for a court date on September 14th.