FL Pastor’s Former Wife Accused of Stealing $180K
Pastor’s ex-wife used church credit card to make over 1,000 personal purchases
The ex-wife of a Florida pastor has been arrested for allegedly embezzling money from the church her husband pastored.
Nancy Bertine
Nancy Bertine, 74, was arrested on July 24 and was charged with both a scheme to defraud and grand theft of $100,000 or more, according to court records in Citrus County, Florida.
Bertine was employed by Gulf to Lake Baptist Church in Crystal Lake as its music minister and was married to its senior pastor, Lloyd Bertine. The couple divorced in April, and Nancy Bertine lost her job at the church when Lloyd Bertine learned she was having an affair.
It was in the wake of Nancy leaving the church that staff began looking over financial documents and noticed a pattern of fraudulent charges made on Nancy’s personal Amazon account. She is being accused of making hundreds of purchases for herself using a church credit card.
According to an investigation by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, more than 1,000 fraudulent purchases were made between 2021 and 2024. “Sheriff’s office records indicated purchases for dog food, cat food, personal hygiene products, cosmetics, clothing items, hair dye, lingerie, personal women’s undergarments,” investigators said, according to Spectrum News 9.
When sheriff deputies questioned Nancy Bertine, she told them, “I’ve ordered a lot of stuff, I mean a lot. I didn’t even think about it at the time I was ordering those things, I just ordered them and the church would pay the bill,” according to The Miami Herald.
When asked how long she had been making fraudulent purchases, she said she didn’t remember when it started but told deputies it had been going on “forever.”
According to deputies, Bertine is accused of embezzling over $196,000. “Records showed she reimbursed the church for nearly $14,000 in personal expenses, bringing the total amount misappropriated to $182,610,” according to The Miami Herald.
This case remains open while the sheriff’s department continues their investigation.
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