Lawsuit: PA Church Worker Stole $340,000 From Fund For Poor

Worker embezzlements schemes are at a five-year high as of the Boston-based security firm Marquet International's latest count, as AOL Jobs has reported. Indeed, 2012 saw the uncovering of 538 instances of employee fraud worth more than $100,000. Many schemes that began at the beginning of the financial crisis are only now coming to light. But amid such rampant employee theft, some cases still stand out for their shocking nature. Take, for instance, the charge being levied against 66-year old Sharon Warunek, a resident of Lackawanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Warunek worked for 27 years with the Diocese of Scranton. And over that time, she's alleged to have stolen at least $340,000 from the church's charitable donations fund, the money from which is handed over to a variety of causes for the poor. Warunek held the title of office manager at the church's Society for the Propagation of the Faith and so opened the mail and handled the checks that were sent to the office. She's said to have used the money to pay for monthly charges on a Discover credit card with "clockwork regularity," in the words of Pennsylvania-based newspaper, Citizens' Voice.