A Bradford woman has been arraigned on theft charges for allegedly taking nearly $24,000 from the First Baptist Church of Port Allegany while she worked as the church secretary.
52-year-old Pamela Hamilton is charged with felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and receiving stolen property.
Court papers say she wrote checks out to herself and took money from weekly offerings. When borough police chief Dave Distrola met with Hamilton and read her Miranda warning she said she wanted to cooperate and didn’t deny taking the money, but disagreed with the amount.
Hughes Forensic Accounting of Florida, which conducted an audit at the request of Erie Insurance, provided documentation showing the amount as $23,743.76.
Hamilton is free on unsecured bail.