Many people who are accused of theft or embezzlement are unfairly painted as a corrupt or evil person. In some cases, this could not be further from the truth. While charges of white collar crimes should be taken very seriously, sometimes a person who may have committed this type of crime had no intention of hurting anyone. It may be surprising to learn that financial theft within religious organizations across Minnesota is more common than people think.

Some sources suggest that churches put themselves in the position to be taken advantage of. In a religious environment, people are not really focused on money. They are volunteers who may have little or no training in a professional position.

There may be little oversight of finances in a religious setting. Without a system of checks and balances, embezzlement may continue for a very long time before it is discovered. By the time the funds are discovered missing, typically it is because the person responsible for handling the finances - who is most often the one taking money - has left the position. Because of this, it can be difficult to track what happened.

People who are charged with embezzlement from a church likely have never committed a crime before. They do not set out in search of ways to steal money. Frequently in an accounting position, they are commonly long-time workers at the organization and are highly trusted by their peers. This innate sense of trust combined with a lack of training may put a person in the position to be able to take money without having to account for it.

A person may rationalize their actions because the pilfered funds had gone unnoticed for so long. Some may see their behavior not as theft but merely as collecting compensation for an underpaid or unpaid position. While this is not exactly logical thinking, it illustrates the point that a person is not always the terrible criminal that he or she is painted out to be. A maximum prison sentence and enormous fines would certainly not be appropriate in many of these cases. It is up to an experienced legal professional to determine this.

Source: DL-Online, "Why church fraud happens more often than you think," Sherri Richards, Feb. 19, 2012