Glenn Yothers, 56, of Unity, took $150,606 from the accounts of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latrobe, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh, according to court documents obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Yothers, who had served as church treasurer for 12 years, made the transfers to his personal account between February 2015 and December 2019, state police confirmed. He spent most of the money on a website called Flirt For Free. It clearly was not a free service.

Two other members of the church council became suspicious in 2019 and approached Yothers because the congregation’s bills were not getting paid and deposits weren’t being made into church accounts when expected.

Trooper Robert Politowski said in court documents that, at one stage, the utilities at the church were disconnected and the building was “almost shut down.”

Politowski alleged in the court report that when Yothers was asked by the church council about checks written to himself from the St. Paul account, he claimed he was paying the bills “from his personal bank account and was simply reimbursing himself.” The financial problems continued, however, and members of the parish removed Yothers as treasurer.

He later admitted to stealing the money. He told police he was lonely at home during the day while his wife was working, according to the documents. Investigators said Yothers was a regular user of the website, but told them it was an addiction when he was interrogated on January 21.

“Yothers was asked if this [Flirt For Free] was a pornographic website, and Yothers confirmed it was. Yothers stated he got to know some of these people well enough where he was trying to help those people,” Politowski said.

“Yothers stated he started this with the best intentions because he wanted to help people, but it snowballed out of control.”

The former treasurer was charged with theft by deception and theft by unlawful taking. Yothers was released on signature bond and his preliminary hearing is set for March 24.

The congregation held a meeting to discuss the issue on Tuesday evening, the Tribune-Review reported.

On its website, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church describes itself as one of the oldest congregations in Westmoreland County and a member of the North American Lutheran Church.

Newsweek has contacted the church and Yothers’ lawyer Michael Garofalo for comment.