Catholic church worker wrote 198 checks to herself and stole $451K in Oklahoma, feds say

While working as a payroll administrator for a Catholic church in Oklahoma, authorities said Darla Bralley embezzled about $451,177.

Now the 58-year-old Newcastle woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and making and subscribing a false tax return, according to an Oct. 7 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Bralley started working as the payroll administrator for St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in 2012, according to court records. Prosecutors said she began scamming the church in early 2014 — and continued to do so through January 2020.

In those six years, Bralley is accused of writing herself about 198 unauthorized checks and making 1,068 fraudulent online transfers from the church account, authorities said.

Bralley also admitted that, in 2019, she lied about her income on her 2018 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form, leaving out the “substantial income ... related to the money she embezzled from St. Paul,” according to the news release.

Her defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Oct. 10.

Bralley used the embezzled money for her own credit card payments, utilities and personal living expenses, according to the criminal information sheet filed in federal court.

In pleading guilty, authorities said she faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and a maximum of three years for her false tax return.

McClatchy News reached out to St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church for comment regarding Bralley’s guilty plea.

St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church is in Del City, part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

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