Church Treasurer Sentenced to Six Years at Hard Labor

State v. Bruce, 886 So.2d 636 (La. App. 2004)

Amy was the church treasurer of a church in Louisiana for four years. Each month she wrote unauthorized checks from the church's account to pay her insurance premiums. She also wrote monthly unauthorized checks to herself from the church's account. In most of these cases she forged a co-worker's signature on the checks. The total amount of the unauthorized checks was in excess of $79,000.

The state charged Amy with felony theft and forgery, but agreed to drop the forgery charge in return for her agreement to plead guilty to the theft charge. A court sentenced her to six years in a state penitentiary at hard labor. Amy was 58 years of age at the time of her sentencing. She claimed that she took church funds to pay her medical bills.

Prior to imposing sentence, the court carefully considered the evidence supporting Amy's sentence as ...