Years after excessive pay scandal, criminal case moves forward against ousted Centinela Valley superintendent

More than a year since his arrest and nearly five since the Centinela Valley Union High School District was rocked by a corruption scandal, disgraced former Superintendent Jose Fernandez will be back in court next week.

Fernandez, 59, will appear in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Monday for a preliminary hearing that could last five days and include testimony from as many as 30 witnesses.

A judge will determine whether there’s enough evidence to try Fernandez for allegedly carrying out an embezzlement scheme in which he duped school board members and taxpayers in the tiny, low-income district so he could enjoy lavish compensation and unusual perks.

He was arrested in August 2017 on a dozen felony counts, including embezzlement by a public official, misappropriation of public funds, grand theft and conflict of interest. If convicted, Fernandez could be sentenced to up to 15 years in state prison.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office launched its investigation in February 2014 after the Daily Breeze revealed the superintendent had collected $663,000 in total compensationleading the tiny school district serving students in Hawthorne and Lawndale. It was later learned Fernandez had actually collected $750,000 in compensation in 2013.

The newspaper also uncovered a nearly $1 million, low-interest home loan from the district and a $750,000 life insurance policy Fernandez took out before the school board could approve it.

Prosecutors alleged he “surreptitiously” buried these and other perks in an overwhelming volume of documents that went before school board members.

Where the case stands

Few details of the criminal case have emerged since Fernandez surrendered his passport and was freed on $495,000 bond in September 2017.

The preliminary hearing was postponed several times last year, most recently because Deputy District Attorney Stefan Mrakich was assigned to a murder trial in November.

Several past and present Centinela Valley officials — including retired Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Bob Cox, former school board member Sandra Suarez, and current trustees Gloria Ramos and Hugo Rojas — have confirmed they received subpoenas out of the blue last week.

Fernandez is still making payments on the loan to the school district for his $1.6 million home, said Ron Hacker, assistant superintendent of business services.

Fernandez’s two-story house in Ladera Heights and 17 bank accounts were among assets frozen days before his arrest because investigators feared he might use it as collateral to make bail, pay for his defense or liquidate to avoid paying restitution, according to a search warrant.

In January 2018, Fernandez asked a judge to release funds so he could hire a new attorney, but the request was denied and he was ordered to report to a financial evaluator, records show.

He is now represented by Vicki Podberesky, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney with expertise in white-collar cases. She could not be reached for comment.

Fernandez answered a phone call from a reporter late last week, but said he could not talk and hung up.

No indictment from grand jury

The defense is not allowed to present its side at a preliminary hearing, but Podberesky’s cross-examination of witnesses could offer a glimpse of her strategy.

Although it was never revealed publicly, the District Attorney’s Office convened a grand jury nearly three years ago to consider criminal charges against Fernandez. However, no indictment was ever issued, which could explain why it took prosecutors more than three years to bring charges against him.

According to court records, a judge in October 2018 granted Podberesky access to the sealed transcripts from secret grand jury proceedings in May 2016.

Greg Risling, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on the proceedings.

Moving past a ‘low point’

Ramos and Rojas, who served on the school board at the time of the controversy, both said they are pleased to see the case move along.

“I look forward to seeing that Mr. Fernandez gets what he deserves,” Rojas said.

Ramos said Centinela Valley, which operates three traditional high schools and a continuation school, has made strides in rebuilding the community’s trust.

“Although it was extremely painful, we’re doing so much better academically, with community relations and having tight relationships with feeder schools,” she said.

District officials meet more frequently with parents and leaders from feeder schools, a sign that Centinela Valley has moved past a “low point” that damaged its reputation, said board President Daniel Urrutia. He was elected in November 2015, long after Fernandez was fired.

Current Superintendent Gregory O’Brien, who was hired that year, also said district officials have moved past the scandal, but that it remains in the back of their minds.

When the district approved early retirement incentives for employees, for example, “the question came up of, ‘Do you plan to take advantage?’ ” O’Brien said. “I said, ‘Absolutely not, it’s not for me.’ ”

(O’Brien earns an annual salary of $221,707, according to the school district.)

He said district officials will be watching the case against Fernandez, but don’t want it to affect students.

“It’s not that we should forget or ignore,” O’Brien said. “I want our students to recognize that our district is focused on their success. … We don’t want our adult issues to cloud or disrupt that learning.”

Ex-Centinela Valley superintendent pushed through private retirement plan worth $294,000 to him, testimony reveals
Disgraced former Centinela Valley school Superintendent Jose Fernandez was “extremely” eager to secure a supplemental retirement plan for the district from which he stood to gain $294,000, according to court testimony Monday.

“JF is extremely hot on this,” then-Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Bob Cox wrote in a September 2012 email to a school district lawyer about a program that would give longtime employees additional retirement benefits.

A portion of the redacted exchange was read aloud by a prosecutor on the sixth day of the preliminary hearing in the corruption case against Fernandez, who is accused of bilking taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by finding ways to dramatically boost his pay and benefits leading the tiny, Lawndale-based district.

Cox, the latest former Centinela Valley Union High School District official to take the witness stand in downtown Los Angeles, said he used the terms “white hot” and “extremely hot” in emails to describe Fernandez’s sense of urgency about getting the plan approved months before a pension reform law took effect.

Prosecutors allege the supplemental retirement program was part of a scheme Fernandez devised to spike his pension, and that he failed to mention his own potential benefit when presenting it to the school board, which approved the plan in December 2012.

A judge will decide whether Fernandez should be tried on a dozen charges, including embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest, which could send him to prison for as many as 15 years if he is convicted.

The supplemental retirement plan offered employees with more than 15 years of service as much as 7 percent of their pay, covered entirely by the district. It was billed as a way to save Centinela Valley money by giving veteran educators an incentive to retire early, offering an unusually long seven-year timeline for those eligible to participate.

Fernandez’s defense attorney, Vicki Podberesky, said the idea was to get more district veterans on board.

“Essentially, the longer the time period of the program, the more employees could participate,” she said.

Cox, a former sportswriter for the Daily Breeze who succeeded Fernandez as superintendent but is now retired, said he understood that Fernandez would become eligible just before the seven years were up.

At the time, it caught the attention of Public Agency Retirement Services — or PARS — the private company that offers the plans. Senior Vice President Eric O’Leary emailed Fernandez noting the potential for a conflict of interest, or at least the perception of one.

Fernandez was unable to collect the benefits because he was fired before he turned 55.

Deputy District Attorney Stefan Mrakich also spent time questioning the superintendent’s hiring practices. Cox said it was normal for Fernandez to skirt the district’s protocols and not seek his input even though he was in charge of human resources.

“I think it shows an overall pattern on Mr. Fernandez’s part where he’s in control,” Mrakich said.

The day also featured testimony from current Centinela Valley school board member Hugo Rojas, who was elected in November 2009 and voted weeks later to approve the controversial employment contract at the center of Fernandez’s case.

Unlike two former board members who testified that they were initially unaware of a provision in the contract giving Fernandez the option to obtain a nearly $1 million, low-interest home loan, Rojas said the trustees did discuss it prior to casting their votes.

But Rojas said he didn’t find out that Fernandez had executed the loan to buy his two-story Ladera Heights home until he read about it in the Daily Breeze in February 2014.

He said he didn’t remember seeing a copy of a $910,000 check to a Santa Monica escrow company that prosecutors allege was a “surreptitiously” included in several pages of financial records under a consent calendar of routine board agenda items.

Rojas said he confronted Fernandez about the “disturbing” revelations in the Daily Breeze. The superintendent replied that the newspaper’s reporting was inaccurate, Rojas said, and he was told, “Don’t worry about it, legal is going to work it out.”

With a long witness list, tedious questioning and a case file with thousands of pages of documents, the preliminary hearing is taking longer than expected and may have to resume in March.

Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ron Hacker is expected to testify on Tuesday

Bookkeeper accused of taking almost $270,000 from church

A former Gadsden church bookkeeper/treasurer/pianist was arrested Wednesday, accused of stealing almost $270,000 from a small church during her tenure there.

Deborah K. Coker, 60, was charged with one count of first-degree theft by deception, Gadsden Detective Clark Thompson said. She has been released on $5,000 bond.

Thompson said police investigated the theft of money during at 10-year period at the McCauley’s Chapel Methodist Church on Tabor Road.

The theft came to light after the church’s pastor, Curtis Scott, returned from a furlough and noticed some accounts had been seriously depleted.

“As a pastor, I don’t handle any money,” Scott said. “My job is to preach the gospel, and grow disciples.”

There were others at the church who should have received bank statements, he said — the chief of trustees, the board of administrators and the secretary — but the bookkeeper had stopped that, and no one said anything.

At business meetings, Scott said, “they were shown spreadsheets that showed what she wanted us to see.”

“All the bills were being paid,” for the church, Thompson said, so no one had any reason to suspect anything was wrong.

But they found evidence that Coker had been paying personal bills out of church accounts, Thompson said, including payments to a mortgage company, Alabama Power, Verizon, Lowe’s, Sears, Belk, J.C. Penney and many others.

Scott said he started looking at bank accounts and had an audit done that uncovered the scope of the theft.

The woman received a salary from the church, Thompson explained, but she’d been paying herself multiple times a month.

The pastor said when he confronted her about the theft, she admitted it.

“We were just sad and shocked,” Scott said. She had been at the church a long time, he said, “Longer than I’ve been here.

“We thought it was our responsibility to the community and our obligation to our faith to turn it over to the authorities,” he said.

Scott said he believes there’s a message McCauley’s Chapel can share with other churches: trust but verify.

That’s part of why he chose to speak about the theft. The woman arrested, he said, is a very talented pianist, and he could see something like this happening at another church as well.

Thompson said churches need to have some checks and balances when it comes to money. The business of the church needs to be handled like a business.

“Your treasurer and your bookkeeper should never be the same person,” he said. “Be aware that this kind of thing can and does happen.”

Sgt. John Hallman said no one else was involved in the theft at McCauley Chapel.

He said he’s concerned that some churches or businesses, if they see evidence of embezzlement, may just sweep it under the rug.

“They may worry about their reputation and never bring charges,” he said. “I think anytime you are a victim of something like this, you need to notify authorities.”

Scott said automatic payments had been set up for a mortgage and other bills, coming out of church accounts.

He said a couple of loans had been taken out to put money back into church accounts, but the payments on the loans were being made out of church accounts, too.

McCauley’s Chapel is a small church, Scott said.

“A little smaller, after this,” he said. “It’s affected us a little bit. I think we’ll be fine.

“It’s brought us together a little, too. We’re definitely going to be little more careful,” Scott said.

Former Athens teacher awaiting trial in sex assault case charged with embezzlement

A former Athens teacher, awaiting trial for having sex with a student, faces new charges of embezzlement from the school system.

Tyler Millward, 30, of Springfield, was arraigned Thursday in Calhoun County District Court on a charge of embezzlement from a nonprofit of more than $1,000 and less than $20,000 and of using a computer to commit a crime

Both charges carry maximum sentences of up to 10 years and could be consecutive.

Millward appeared before Magistrate Joe Brutsche who set bond at $20,000 and scheduled a preliminary examination for Feb. 6 before Judge Tracie Tomak. He asked for a court appointed attorney.

Millward is accused of taking chemistry equipment, including a replica of a human skeleton, and baseball supplies all valued at about $5,000 from Athens Area Schools where he was a teacher and selling them on eBay between July of 2016 and July 2017.

He is already awaiting trial in circuit court on three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 16-year-old female student. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on those charges.

Former IB Charter School PTA President Arrested

Former IB Charter School PTA president Kaitlyn Birchman was arrested on Jan. 2 at her home in Temecula and arraigned on Jan. 10. She has been charged with embezzlement of $400 or more, grand theft and writing fictitious checks.

The Sheriff’s Department Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) had been investigating the missing funds of $14,802 Birchman has allegedly stolen for almost a year. Although the current PTA puts the missing amount at $40,000, the Sheriff’s Department FCU Sgt. Karl Miller says only the $14,000 can be proven is actually missing. “Proof guides the investigation, not emotions,” said Miller about the discrepancy of the funds.

Last January 2018, the PTA board discovered Birchman’s mishandling of funds and in March the issue was brought up during a board meeting. After a heated discussion, a motion was made to remove Birchman from the board. Miller and other officers attended the March meeting and said that the board found out Birchman had closed the bank account and was writing checks from that account. When one of the vendors who received a fraudulent check complained, the embezzlement was discovered. 

“The board was surprised and shocked. There was no bank account,” said current PTA president Amber Vissuet. “A lot of checks throughout the year couldn’t be deposited because there was no bank account.”

“The school district was not paid over $5,000 so all the field trips were cancelled,” said current Treasurer Elizabeth McKay.

After the embezzlement was discovered McKay said some parents told her during a membership drive they had heard what happened and did not want to join the PTA.

“We’re taking it seriously and we are 100 percent transparent and accountable,” she said about going forward.  

“Due to lack of accountability she [Birchman] was put into the position… it went from three people authorizing withdrawals to one,” said Miller. “If you look at the investigation as a whole, the PTA had the right policies but did not implement them.”

Birchman is currently out on a $25,000 bond and a court date has not been set. The District Attorney is looking at the investigation to see what can be proven without reasonable doubt, explained Miller.

Former school secretary faces embezzlement charge

A 17-year Stanly County Schools employee is accused of of embezzling more than $5,000 of school funds at Walmart.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Ashley Thompson said Joanna Love, 59, turned herself in at the Stanly County magistrate’s office Friday morning and posted bond.

A warrant for her arrest states Love “did fraudulently misapply and convert to her own use Stanfield Elementary School’s Walmart credit card,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The alleged embezzlement of $5,731.47 with Love, a former school secretary, occurred between May 27, 2017 and Oct. 6, 2018. The charge is a felony.
SCS Superintendent Jeff James issue a statement about the school system’s accounting practices.

“Our District and our schools are held to the same accounting and operation standards of any governmental entity and we answer to taxpayers for how we use tax dollars to improve the future livelihood of our students and economic development of our county,” James wrote in an email.

“At Stanly County Schools, we hold ourselves to high standards of financial integrity and it is our responsibility to ensure our schools have sound practices to protect our funding,” he added. “Unfortunately, when accounting procedures are not followed, we have a responsibility to take corrective action and report any suspected issues to the appropriate authorities. While Stanly County Schools cannot comment on any particular personnel matters, when our district discovers that our financial procedures are not being followed or financial impropriety exists, as stewards of public tax dollars, it is the administration’s duty to correct the matter and, if necessary, turn the matter over to local authorities. It is always the district’s goal to maintain the trust of our stakeholders, ensuring we use our funding as intended and for appropriate educational purposes.”

Former Taher employee accused of embezzling lunch money from Brown Deer School District

Jennifer Dettmann, 48, of Kewaskum was employed by Taher Inc., a food service vendor, as the school district's food service director from April 2008 to January 2016. 

On Jan. 16, she was charged with embezzlement (more than $10,000) in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Dettmann's alleged embezzlement scheme started to come to light toward the end of the 2015-16 school year, when newly hired Finance Director Jeff Pruefer and Maryann Newenhouse, the district accountant, noticed a significant difference between Taher's reported sales and the food service funds deposited into the district’s bank account.

According to a criminal complaint, Dettmann would deposit only electronic funds, checks and a portion of the cash she received into the district's computer system. After creating a deposit slip for those funds, she would input the remaining cash not previously entered during the first batch. She would not generate a deposit slip for the second batch of cash, so that she could take the cash for herself, the complaint alleged.

By inputting the cash she stole into the district's computer system, Dettman ensured the funds that parents provided were still credited to their students' food service accounts.

"This allowed Dettmann to continue her scheme without fear of parent complaints of missing funds," the complaint stated.

Pruefer started investigating the history of the food service account, and found similar shortfalls dating back to the 2011-12 school year.

Pruefer was able to locate yearly “sales writeoffs,” representing the difference in the amount of sales Taher reported each year and the amount of money the district deposited in the bank.

The discrepancies ranged between $14,000 and $28,000 per year between 2011 and 2016. Over the course of that five-year period, the discrepancy between the two funds totaled $109,885, according to the complaint.

After Dettmann resigned in January 2016, the district did not find any more significant discrepancies between the amount of sales and cash deposited in the bank.

In an interview with a Brown Deer police officer on Nov. 29, 2018, Dettmann admitted that she embezzled money that was supposed to be deposited into the school district bank accounts. She told police she was unsure how much money she took, but believed it to be about $50,000, according to the complaint.

Dettmann was scheduled to make her initial court appearance on Jan. 30.

Chester woman sentenced to 3 months in jail for embezzling $24,500 from elementary school PTA

A self-employed accountant who was elected treasurer of Elizabeth Scott Elementary School’s PTA pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling $24,500 from the organization after earlier skipping her trial and fleeing to North Carolina.

After accepting her plea in Chesterfield County Circuit Court, Judge David E. Johnson sentenced Jessica L. Yeakey, 42, of Chester, to five years in prison with four years and nine months suspended, giving her three months to serve. The punishment exceeded discretionary sentencing guidelines, which called for probation and no incarceration.

Yeakey’s conviction this week came more than a year after she was declared a fugitive for skipping her Dec. 11, 2017, embezzlement trial. That proceeding had been rescheduled for Jan. 25, 2018, but she skipped a second time, said Chesterfield Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert J. Fierro Jr.

Authorities learned she traveled to North Carolina in January and entered a substance abuse recovery program in that state. She traveled back to the Richmond area Dec. 6 and was arrested by Richmond police on the warrant issued for her arrest for skipping trial.

Yeakey testified Thursday that she returned to the Richmond area to turn herself in, but Fierro said he didn’t have any way to independently verify that.

According to a summary of the case, the Scott Elementary PTA recruited Yeakey to be their treasurer in August 2016 based on her self-employment as the operator of an accounting firm called Jessica Yeakey Bookkeeping Services. Her Facebook page advertising the business said she had more than 15 years of experience in private and public accounting.

Before Yeakey assumed the treasurer’s position, the PTA performed an audit of their accounts in July 2016, Fierro said. When the school year began, the organization held a series of fundraising events that continued through March 2017.

“The leadership of this PTA maintained some very strong accounting procedures, which involved multiple individuals counting and verifying monies and checks that had come in at various fundraising events,” Fierro said. These procedures were carried out before turning over the collected funds to Yeakey, he added.

“She was entrusted to hold the sums until they could be deposited [into] a specific account that had been set up for this PTA,” Fierro explained.

However, Yeakey failed to make deposits beginning in October 2016 and “she made no further deposits after that time,” the prosecutor said.

That continued until March 2017, when PTA officials were able to determine how much money Yeakey had taken and failed to deposit — $24,545.49, Fierro said.

The PTA had $17,000 in the bank in January 2017, but that balance dropped to $275 by March. “So essentially the PTA ran out of money,” he said.

After being confronted about the missing funds, Yeakey would skip and postpone meetings, Fierro said, and she ultimately presented fabricated reports to the PTA board.

An audit was conducted and a member of the PTA’s leadership committee met with Yeakey at her home March 15 to recover all PTA records and journals. She resigned a day later.

Yeakey initially was cooperative and turned over about $14,000 of the missing $24,500. The funds were in random money rolls and checks that had been in her possession for months but not deposited, Fierro said.

The PTA then conducted a more detailed audit and discovered additional funds could not be accounted for. Police were called and investigators conducted a search of Yeakey’s home on March 21, 2017; they found some additional PTA checks and a money box with cash inside. That brought the amount of missing money down to $2,840.23, the prosecutor said.

“She initially told police that she really didn’t steal any money [and] that she was just overwhelmed in life and abusing alcohol,” Fierro said. “She promised to repay the missing money but failed to do so.”

As a condition of her sentence, the judge ordered Yeakey to make restitution in the amount of $2,840. She was also banned from any contact with Elizabeth Scott PTA.

Because Yeakey exceeded her authority in terms of how she handled the missing funds, she “technically did embezzle that full amount,” Fierro explained. “We were just fortunate enough to be able to recover” all but $2,840

FORMER IOWA SCHOOL OFFICIAL ON PROBATION AFTER EMBEZZLING $217K

A former school official was sentenced to three years of probation at a Friday hearing after embezzling $217,000 from a school district near Des Moines, Iowa.

Melissa Lantz, 35, stole the money over the course of several years from Woodward-Granger Community School District. She was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence along with paying back the money and doing community service, The Associated Press reported Monday.

” … personally, sick to my stomach — I mean, just knowing where [the money] came from at that particular point — disheartening,” Superintendent Brad Anderson said, KCCI reported.

Lantz was hired to work with the school district in 2012. She worked her way up to becoming a business manager after handling payroll assignments.

A state audit found Lantz issued 101 unauthorized checks to herself, the AP reported in August 2018.

Lantz used the money to pay the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Granger Motors and Homemaker’s Furniture, KCCI reported. She has children attending school in the district, so Lantz will not be allowed to participate in classroom fundraisers, according to KCCI.

Former Fort Atkinson pastor pleads guilty to theft

A former Fort Atkinson minister who shattered the trust of his congregation members has been sentenced to two years on probation for embezzling from his church.

The Rev. Bryan Engfer originally was charged with a single count of theft in a business setting of $5,000 to $10,000 for embezzling from his congregation at Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Atkinson between April 2012 and April 2018.

On Friday, he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of theft in a business setting of $2,500 to $5,000.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Ben Brantmeier imposed and stayed a sentence totaling one month in jail and subsequently placed Engfer on probation for a total of two years, per a joint recommendation by Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Monica Hall and Engfer’s attorney, Scott McCarthy.

Under the law, the judge is to consider probation as the first option unless confinement is necessary to protect the public, the offender needs correctional treatment only available in confinement or if the judge believes probation would unduly depreciate the seriousness of the offense.

It was the last point on which Brantmeier acknowledged being stuck.

“You, Mr. Engfer, were in a position of trust,” he said. “Everything you’ve done good for the community is something I will look at, but the trust the parishioners had in you has been betrayed.”

Brantmeier acknowledged that the many good things Engfer did for the community spiritually and for those in need were significant.

“Usually I’m sitting up here looking at sheets of a criminal record,” he said. “What I’m looking at is what you did for the community and how you rose above and helped, only to have that trust shattered.”

Also, the judge pointed to what he defined as a continuing pattern of undesirable behavior, referring to the inappropriate use of the funds going on for several years.

Despite those actions, Brantmeier noted that many of Engfer’s former congregation members still hold his trust.

He also cited a victim impact statement written by the Rev. Amy Waelchi, current pastor at Trinity, that states, “Individually and collectively, we are working toward forgiveness with knowledge that God forgives, and yet even with God, consequences remain. Bryan Engfer must face the consequences of his actions, which he seems unwilling to do.”

Brantmeier acknowledged that some of the comments arose from Engfer being instructed not to speak to anyone about the allegations prior to its resolution.

“By using his role as pastor and the implicit trust in him, he has broken more than laws; in some cases, he has broken people’s faith,” Waelchi wrote. “I have had several people tell me they have lost their faith because of what Bryan has done. People from all walks of life feel broken and betrayed.”

The judge also highlighted the expectations of a pastor provided to him by the church.

“You will need to live with that guilt and ask forgiveness,” Brantmeier told the former pastor. “That is something I can’t give you; that is something only our Lord can give.”

As conditions of probation, Engfer is to pay Trinity Lutheran Church restitution of $16,257.

He also was directed to maintain full-time employment or pursue an education program and undergo any assessment, treatment or counseling as directed.

Engfer, who was installed at Trinity Lutheran as associate pastor in May 1991 and resigned from the church on May 1, 2018, before the embezzlement investigation began, due to reasons not related to the alleged crime, apologized for his actions.

“I would just like to sincerely admit my guilt and apologize to members of my family, to the church, to anyone who has been impacted by my actions,” he said. “I take full responsibility for very poor choices. I regret and I’m very humbled and saddened by what I did.”

During her presentation, Hall pointed out how much the allegations had impacted the community.

“The defendant was an incredibly well-respected member of his community in a very thriving church flock who looked up to him,” she said, noting that in the aftermath of his departure from the church, she heard from people upset about him not being available for baptisms and weddings.

“He also was just an involved member of the community and was generally well-respected and well-liked, which caused a lot of division and issues as things started to come out about this case and about the reasons behind his sudden departure from his position as pastor at Trinity,” the prosecutor said. “There has been ongoing division in the church in general and it has been very difficult for the church council and the current pastor to try and address what is happening with all the members of the church. They are trying to be as forthright as they could and as merciful as they could.”

She added that Waelchi and the council are grateful that the issue has been resolved quickly and that Engfer is taking responsibility for his actions.

He was arrested by the Fort Atkinson Police Department on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, in relation to the allegation. He was booked and released with a referral made to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

Congregation members were informed of the embezzlement allegations via a letter dated Aug. 7 from the 12-member Trinity Lutheran Church Council that detailed the results of an independent audit of the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund by Wegner CPA, Madison.

Hall said the audit of the “Pastor’s Discretionary Fund” showed that the transactions identified by the church counsel and Rev. Waelchli as being fraudulent totaled $13,857.41 and occurred between April 2012 and April 2018. Engfer reportedly had sole control over the fund and repeatedly denied church officials an opportunity to audit the account, which was intended to be used to help people in need of gas money, rent and utilities.

The church treasurer annually asked Engfer for the information necessary to audit the account, but never was given the information. Following his resignation, Engfer had left a checkbook and register for the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund checking account on his office desk.

Checks were found to have been issued to “KMCC.” which is the abbreviation for the Koshkonong Mounds Country Club, where Engfer is a member. Additional checks were written out to Engfer himself with “continuing education reimbursement” written in the memo line. No supporting documentation for such reimbursements was available.

Also, there was a check written out to Goben cars for a vehicle purchased for Engfer.

There were entries found for “FACT” (Fort Atkinson Community Theater), an organization of which Engfer was a member, but not one the church-authorized funds. In addition, there were checks made out to Engfer’s daughter and other members of his family.

“Perhaps what is most upsetting about that piece is that had Engfer gone to the church council, there may have been an opportunity for him to have some of those items paid for by the church,” she said.

She explained that the church’s insurance would cover up to $100,000, but a police report would need to be filed. The church council ultimately voted to file a police report.

“Really, they were trying to have the defendant be held accountable for the misuse of this fund and recoup some of the money that the church is really owed, while at the same time not trying to appear vindictive,” Hall said. “I think the church would like me to inform the court, like I said at the beginning, that it is happy that the defendant has taken responsibility and that he has resolved this quickly so that church community can really start to genuinely heal and come together again as church community and learn to trust one another again.”

She noted that since the allegations against Engfer were revealed, the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund was closed and the church now operates a Good Samaritan Fund viewable to everyone. The money will be capped at $250 per household or once a year, with the situation to be revisited if needed, but special permission is required.

Engfer’s attorney suggested that the entire scenario was an anomalous situation for Engfer.

“In my 27 years of practice, I’m not sure I’ve met a finer human being,” McCarthy said, citing Engfer’s years of helping countless congregation members and being an active volunteer.

“As I’ve had an opportunity to represent Mr. Engfer — I represented Mr. Engfer in his divorce, as well — I’ve had numerous people come to my office to talk to me about him,” he said.

The attorney noted that he instructed the former pastor to not to speak to anyone about the charges or the events surrounding them.

“His marriage had been failing for four or five years; that is one of the reasons he left the church,” McCarthy said. “He had tremendous stress at home. Obviously, no excuse for what was going on.”

Also, he suggested that Engfer was filling a number of transition roles at the church and one significant staff member who had left the church abruptly, while apparently unable to utilize the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund.

“In my view, I think one of the things that happened here is because he was unable to do those things, I think he started thinking, ‘if I can’t do those things, maybe I can do this,’” McCarthy said, acknowledging that it still was inexcusable and Engfer likely would have gotten approval for many of the items had he gone to the church council.

“I think he was embarrassed asking for anything further,” he said. “That is my feeling about what went on. There is no excuse for the conduct.”

Continuing, the defense attorney pointed out that when Engfer first approached him, he had no interest in hearing about any defense or any negotiations. He just wanted to enter a plea.

“In other aspects of his life, Mr. Engfer is a very good man who has done many good things,” McCarthy said. “He betrayed the trust of his church. That is a guilt that he will never be able to overcome and it will live with him forever.”