A local woman convicted of embezzling more than $38,000 from a North Andover church last year was back in court this week for allegedly writing a bogus rent check.
Dawn Appel, 40, of 76 Blossom St., Haverhill, appeared in Lawrence District Court on Wednesday after being summonsed on a charge of larceny by check over $250.
Appel was accused of writing a bad check by her landlord, Melissa Drouin of Lawrence, according to incident reports on file with the North Andover and Haverhill police departments.
Appel agreed Wednesday to pay Drouin $365 in restitution, according to Carrie Kimball Monahan, spokeswoman for the Essex district attorney's office.
Previously, Appel lived at 15 Bixby Ave. in North Andover.
n March 2009, Appel turned herself in to North Andover police in connection with the embezzlement of $38,481.68 at North Parish Church in North Andover. Appel was charged and found guilty of larceny over $250, improper use of a credit card, forgery of a check, and uttering a false check.
Appel received probation for three years with the following stipulations: that she look for a full-time job that does not allow her access to money or financial information; that she continue psychological counseling; that she write a letter of apology to North Parish Church; and that she pay the church $13,500 in restitution.
The Rev. Lee Bluemel, pastor at North Parish Church, could not be reached for comment yesterday. The more than 300-year-old Unitarian Universalist church has a congregation of 360 members.
Appel had worked at the church since 2006 and is believed to have taken the money between Jan. 1, 2007, and April 24, 2009. She was placed on paid administrative leave soon after.
er church members on file in Lawrence District Court, Appel wrote that she was in "great financial despair."
"I have been behind on all of my bills, I have been supporting my daughter and her family as well," wrote Appel. "All I have done with what was not rightfully mine is pay bills. I realize that doesn't make it OK ... it would be the same no matter where the money went to."
Appel went on to write that she had already begun to pay money back to the church.
"I beg you to let me work this out with you," wrote Appel. "Please let me pay back the money and keep this between North Parish and me. If you were to involve the authorities my life would be over. I have clearly lost my job. I have no money at all. I am not going to be able to collect unemployment because of this ... and I deserve all of that."
Church officials were told at an April 2009 meeting that some church checks were made out to Appel's landlord. Court documents include 11 pages of canceled checks from the church's bank account and a four-page statement from credit cards.
Drouin first approached Haverhill police in March, alleging that Appel wrote her a bad check for $365 from Georgetown Savings Bank on Sept. 1, 2009, according to court documents.
Drouin told police the check was returned from the bank and stamped with a notice that the account did not exist.
Drouin told police she believed Appel "wrote the check knowing the account had already been closed and the check would bounce," according to an incident report.
Drouin also told police she had worked out a payment plan with Appel that was never upheld.
Drouin later spoke with North Andover police and reported that Appel gave her false information when applying to rent a condominium, according to court documents.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment