A 64-year-old former church secretary faces up to 280 years in prison for embezzling at least $670,000 over at least seven years. The Louisa County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia announced in a statement on Monday (Oct. 21) that Brenda W. Ragland has been convicted of 14 counts of embezzlement.
Authorities have not disclosed the name of the church.
Louisa Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire said that church leaders were first alerted to Ragland’s crimes when they attempted to make a donation to another church’s building fund but were told by the bank that the account they were seeking to use had insufficient funds.
Normally, Ragland would have overseen any transfer of money, but she was out of town and church leaders were not able to reach her. It was only after directly communicating with the bank that they realized something was wrong.
After church leaders requested records from the bank, they turned those records over to Louisa County Sheriff’s Office for an investigation.
Investigators found that Louisa had for years siphoned off funds from the church’s accounts, depositing money to her personal account via CashApp.
Although Ragland had worked for the church for more than 20 years, the church’s financial records only go back seven years, making it impossible to know for sure how much Ragland stole from the church.
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“It is a sad day for the church,” said McGuire. “They put their faith in Mrs. Ragland to manage the church resources and she violated that faith by turning church resources into her personal piggy bank.”
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