Church secretary stole $200,000 and spent it on a cruise and Las Vegas trip, feds say

A financial secretary stole more than $200,000 from the church where she worked and used the money on personal purchases, including a cruise and trip to Las Vegas, federal prosecutors say. Now, she’s heading to prison.

From December 2016 to June 2019, Sharon Collins used credit cards issued to her and other employees by the First Baptist Church and falsified information to embezzle $209,744.61 from her employer, according to court documents. Collins worked as a secretary at the church in Foley, Alabama, from May 2007 until July 2019.

Collins pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud in August 2022, her plea agreement said. U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced her to five years in prison and three years of supervised release on Thursday, Feb. 16, the court docket showed.

Collins was also ordered to pay a restitution of nearly $211,000, according to the docket.

Neither First Baptist Church nor Collins’ attorneys immediately returned McClatchy News’ request for comment on Feb. 21.

Prosecutors said Collins used church credit cards to make personal purchases, including a trip to Las Vegas with family members, a seven-night Royal Caribbean cruise for her family and a bachelor’s degree from Troy University.

Collins also used the stolen money to pay for her car registration, her DirecTV and AT&T bills, a three-night hotel stay in New Orleans, and several Amazon and Barnes & Noble purchases, according to the plea agreement.

In 2019, leaders in the congregation began asking questions about the church’s finances. At the time, Collins was the sole person in charge of the church’s financial statements; she was responsible for writing checks, managing the church’s accounts, classifying payments and preparing reports, prosecutors said.

When Collins refused to give church officials access to her computer and the church’s accounting records in July 2019, she was fired, court documents show. The church’s pastor and other leadership then reported the incident to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who launched an investigation.

Foley is about 40 miles southeast of Mobile.

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