Church Finance Manager Embezzles Donations from Church PayPal and Venmo Accounts

A man who had served as the finance manager for Christ the King Cathedral in Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced on May 26 to 51 months for embezzling over a quarter of a million dollars through wire fraud.

Nathan Allan Webb, age 43, pled guilty to the charges in February, The Dallas Express reported. 

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas also ordered that Webb repay the $261,440.20 he embezzled. 

As finance manager, Webb was the only employee with access to the church’s PayPal and Venmo accounts. He admitted to making over 230 unauthorized transfers of parishioners’ donations over 18 months.

He concealed his criminal activity from the church finance committee by altering bank statements so PayPal and Venmo debits appeared as credits, according to a press release by the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. 

The church discovered Webb’s fraud while he was on a trip to Colombia during which he transferred almost $3,000 from the church’s PayPal account into his personal PayPal account and then to his bank account.

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Upon being discovered, Webb overstayed his visa in Colombia and was ordered by the Colombian government to leave the country. 

He bought an airline ticket to Fort Lauderdale but attempted to evade the FBI, knowing they would be waiting for him upon his arrival in the United States. 

Instead he traveled inland to Pereira, where he was eventually detained and held until the federal government negotiated his release and returned him to Texas.

Because of his attempt to evade the FBI, the federal judge agreed to an enhancement of his sentence based on obstruction of justice.