DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) - A judge has sentenced a former accounts payable manager for Dunwoody Baptist Church to three years in prison for stealing nearly $144,000 from her employer.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that 54-year-old Patricia Padgett pleaded guilty Friday. Court officials say Padgett was also ordered to serve 17 years of probation.
Padgett was also ordered to repay $143,955 to the church after the she pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by taking.
Padgett was responsible for collecting revenue from the church's offerings, daycare tuition and fitness center payments, and depositing the money into a church bank account.
Prosecutors say Padgett skimmed money from the deposits she made for the church from 2006-2009, putting incremental amounts of the cash into her own bank account. Padgett was arrested in 2010.
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