Ex-bookkeeper guilty in church embezzlement in Massachusetts

FROM LOWELLSUN.COM

A former employee of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Tyngsboro has pleaded guilty to skimming tens of thousands of dollars from Sunday Mass collections, including donations to the poor.

The parish's pastor, the Rev. Ron St. Pierre, said the thefts may have delayed the church's push to build a new church.
Former St. Mary Magdalen bookkeeper Donna Rood, 47, of Tyngsboro, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court Friday to charges of embezzlement over $250 and making false entries into corporate books.
Judge S. Jane Haggerty sentenced Rood to five years probation, during which she must pay $90,000 in restitution.
Rev. St. Pierre said the thefts occurred just as the church was amid a capital campaign to build a new parish center.
"If we had known how much money we really did have, we may have started building a new church sooner," he said last night.
Asked if he is disappointed Rood did not receive jail time, St. Pierre said the DA's office had indicated it would request jail time, but that the parish left the decision on sentencing up to the court system.
"We are surprised there is no time being served. It was a very large sum," St. Pierre said. "But we left that to the courts to decide."
"By pleading guilty, this defendant has admitted to stealing monetary donations that were intended for the needs of her church and community, violating the trust bestowed upon her as an employee of this church," Middlesex District Attorney
Gerard Leone said. "This defendant has now accepted responsibility for her illegal actions and will be required to repay the stolen funds."

St. Pierre first noticed a discrepancy in May 2009 when he counted the day's offering from the congregation one Sunday and there was $127. The following day, when Rood, a six-year church employee, entered the receipts into the church's books there was only $97.
The following week, the priest and several parishioners again counted the offering, and once again Rood entered a smaller amount in the church's books, according to prosecutors.
In early June 2009, after St. Pierre confronted Rood about the discrepancies in her counting, she was fired.
According to prosecutors, Rood had access to the cash and books at the Tyngsboro church from 2003 until June 2009. Her responsibilities included counting the charitable donations during the three Sunday Masses.
Donations were made in both check and cash form, and included donations to the building fund, which served to maintain the church grounds; the "candle money," which was collected from individuals making votive offerings; and donations to the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, a Catholic charity committed to helping the poor.
When investigators reviewed Rood's personal bank records, they discovered a striking pattern of cash deposits, as much as $1,500 at a time, immediately after Sunday services. Rood allegedly could not explain the missing cash.
St. Pierre said Rood had been a longtime member of the church community.
"I think people were saddened by it," he said of the theft. "It's been a betrayal of trust. And Donna Rood knows many people in this town and this area."