Sharon Bradley, 62, stole nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the Calvary Baptist Church, where she served as the finance secretary for over 11 years, the sheriff said.
“Over the last five years alone, [Bradley] has stolen $768,000. I didn’t make that up. $768,000 that we can prove,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference Wednesday.
Judd said the case started when retired Maj. Mike Pruitt, formerly of the sheriff’s office, and who serves as head deacon at Calvary Baptist Church, looked to “shore up” the books for the interim pastor as the church undergoes a change in leadership.
When Pruitt asked to see the finance documents from Bradley, she only sent him a screenshot of a document that read “line of credit” on the bottom, and connected to an account that did not belong to the church. He referred the case to colleagues at the sheriff’s office, who began an investigation. When Pruitt pointed out that something was wrong with the finances, Bradley quit, leaving the church $190,000 in debt, the sheriff said.
The sheriff believes Bradley stole for the entirety of the 11 years she worked at the church, though Judd said his office can only prove she stole money for the last five years at this point in the investigation.
Judd said the finance secretary began stealing money to pay off her personal credit cards, before eventually getting additional credit cards and paying them off using church funds, totaling $527,992.55 since 2015. The additional funds went to a Credit Union account, deposits and money transfers into a bank account under her name, and purchases made with a Sam’s Club credit card paid off with church funds.
“She made car payments from the Calvary Baptist Church accounts. There was clothing, lots of clothing. Lots and lots of things for her grandchildren. Lots of household products,” Judd said. “Oh, did I leave out by mistake the brand new $50,000 swimming pool?”
While Bradley did pay for some of the pool out of her own pocket, Judd stated that she also used church funds. The sheriff added that Bradley used the church’s money to pay for a Match.com account.
“So when she would subscribe to Match.com, the parishioners of the church paid for her to look up boyfriends,” the sheriff said of Bradley, who is now married to a previous boyfriend.
When the sheriff asked the church whether they had any oversight, the church said that she would “rectify” any irregularities they brought up to her and thought she was an honest person making mistakes.
“For 11 years she was in a finance secretary position, and the finance committee thought she was an honest lady and just a bad bookkeeper. Why would you have a bad bookkeeper in charge of the money at the church?” Judd said.
Bradly faces multiple charges, including grand theft and credit card fraud. According to records from the Polk County Jail, she was arrested on Wednesday and is pending release following payment of $49,0000 bail.
Newsweek reached out to Calvary Baptist Church for comment, but they did not respond back in time for publication.
