DA recovers $18K in stolen church money

Parker County District Attorney Jeff Swain gave a local church a check for $18,061 on Wednesday, Aug. 10, for embezzled funds that he recovered using asset forfeiture from a former church secretary’s bank account.

In the criminal case, Janet Shelley Walker, 63, of Whitney, was convicted on June 14 of theft ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) from a nonprofit organization and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“In the investigation, it was revealed that Ms. Walker was in charge of paying the church’s bills and had been also paying her own bills, including her mortgage, for quite some time,” Swain said. “During the investigation, she sold the home she was paying for with church funds and we traced those funds to a bank in Hillsboro. I decided to use asset forfeiture law to seize the assets in her bank accounts so we could get the church their money back.”

At the time, Swain had not yet been elected and was still a Parker County Assistant District Attorney.

“I had to call the District Attorney in Hill County and ask if he could swear me in down there as a Special Assistant District Attorney so that I could prosecute the forfeiture case and get the church their money back,” Swain said. “As far as I know, that was a first for anyone in our office. We have previously been sworn in to prosecute criminal cases in other counties when their prosecutors have had conflicts, but we haven’t ever done it to get restitution for a victim.”

Asset forfeiture proceedings are more commonly used to seize assets from drug dealers, Swain said. However, under Texas law, they can also be used for felony cases involving theft, burglary, robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault, and several other offenses and can result in the seizure of the implements of those crimes and the financial proceeds gained from them.

Swain credited a methodical investigation by his office and the Parker County Sheriff’s Office in tracking the funds that Walker stole. “Between the grand jury subpoenas and search warrants that we issued, we obtained the bank records and business records we needed to prove both our criminal case and the asset forfeiture case.” 

“We were proud to be able to help one of our local churches who was victimized,” said Parker County Sheriff Russ Authier. “It’s unfortunate that some people are willing to steal from churches.”

“The church that was our victim in this case fell into a trap that is all too common for non-profits, which is the belief that no one would steal from such an organization,” Swain said. “They’re certainly right in that stealing from a church should be beyond the pale, even for a thief. Unfortunately, thieves don’t feel the same sense of morality that the rest of us have.”

The case came to light when a new pastor started working for the small church and saw irregularities in their checking account. As he looked further into it, he found that Walker had written checks from the church to pay a variety of her personal bills for years.

“There are several things that other non-profits could learn from this case to help them avoid similar problems,” Swain said. “Running a background check on all employees when they are first hired is essential. Ideally, that would be updated from time to time. At least annually, organizations should have their financial records audited or reviewed by someone other the person who usually handles the finances. A small group may not be able to afford to have a full audit by a CPA, but they can at least get a second set of eyes on the books.”

Swain also encouraged non-profit entities to utilize transparency in their financial practices. “The light of day can be a real deterrent to misconduct,” he said. 

Finally, he encouraged organizations who have dual-signature checks to never pre-sign checks. “That’s almost an invitation to theft. If the dual-signature function is important to your group, if you pre-sign checks, you have completely undone the security that you were trying to achieve.”

The church requested not to be named.

The case was handled in the 415th District Court, Judge Graham Quisenberry presiding.