Man allegedly stole nearly $250,000 from Carnegie Church – WPXI

CARNEGIE, Pennsylvania – A man is accused of stealing nearly $250,000 from a Carnegie church.

William Reed, 73, worked at St. John Lutheran Church for 14 years, where he held positions that gave him access to church funds. According to Allegheny County police, Reed stole over $224,000 during that time.

“Oh my God, I can't believe someone would do this to a church,” said Sallie Willoughby of Carnegie.

In the criminal complaint, Allegheny County police say that over the years when Reed was treasurer of the church, board members noticed minor accounting problems, but he assured them there was no cause for concern.

The situation became clearer two years ago when the church implemented a new accounting system that revealed even more financial discrepancies. When confronted, Reed “stonewalled” the board members and refused to release any requested records, particularly any related to a checking account referred to as the “Good Samaritan Account.”

After presenting police with seven years of bank statements from January 2018 to May of this year, the committee found numerous payments from the Good Samaritan Account to an American Express account that did not belong to the church.

Using a search warrant, investigators were able to obtain 800 pages of data showing payments totaling $224,000 to a private American Express account owned by William Reed.

“People get desperate, people get greedy. People do things once and think they can get away with it, and then they do it over and over again,” said Ralph Mills of Crafton.

In May of this year, according to the lawsuit, Reed admitted to stealing and embezzling church funds to two church board members. A few days later, he reportedly met with a board member in the church parking lot and asked if “we could break this up.” He allegedly offered to pay the church $20,000 directly.

Channel 11 spoke with William Reed's attorney, who said his client turned himself in Monday morning and was released on bail. His attorney said he has not yet had a chance to review the charges.

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