Lessons Learned After FL Church Employee Sentenced for Stealing Nearly $900K

Parish had protocols when employee embezzled over $800K. Here’s what they learned.

In November, a federal judge sentenced church employee Heather Darrey, 45, to 27 months in federal prison for wire fraud after she pleaded guilty to stealing from the parish she worked for. The investigation revealed that for five months Darrey spent the funds on mortgage payments, car and boat loans, and credit card bills for clothing, restaurants, vacations, and concert tickets—totaling $875,323.19.

Christ the King Catholic Church from 2014 / Photo via social media

For 26 years, Darrey was the records and finance manager at Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida. The church says court documents overly simplify Darrey’s scheme and sentencing details. Christ the King spoke with MinistryWatch to clarify the complex process Darrey used to steal nearly $900K from the parish, although it had a system of checks and balances, and share lessons learned in hindsight.

Finance and Operations Director Wendi Peña told MinistryWatch the church had several transparency practices when the fraud occurred. She noted that, as a large and well-funded parish with roughly 4,500 families, the small church staff handled (and continues to handle) a high volume of invoices for personnel and school expenses alongside managing a large construction project to improve the property.

Peña said as part of the diocesans’ guidelines and protocols, the parish allocated tasks to several people. Peña approved the invoices. Darrey would enter the invoices into the church’s system and keep the checks. Then, a separate process person would reconcile.

“We had a three-person system. It wasn’t one person approving invoices and reconciling and doing all of that,” said Peña. “We followed all guidelines. We reconciled promptly. Everything went to the diocese monthly, and they reviewed everything just like they do for all parishes in our diocese.”

In addition to the three-person system, Peña said the parish utilized an online banking system to facilitate transparency. Although they felt secure with their management, a few local parishes touted a new system they were using: Positive Pay—a banking service that helps businesses and financial institutions prevent check and ACH (Automatic Clearing House) fraud—and suggested they upgrade.

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Peña said the church was only a few weeks away from integrating into Positive Pay when she noticed unusual figures in the system.

In January 2024, while preparing reports and reviewing balances from the previous quarter, Peña noticed that operating balances seemed unusually low. Suspecting fraud was not even a thought in the beginning, she said. The church justified the inconsistencies to factors like reduced giving during a construction project and the complexities of managing multiple accounts with funds flowing in and out simultaneously.

Yet, as Peña and another team member dug deeper, they uncovered more discrepancies.

The inconsistencies included redundant or excessively high invoices. Then, they uncovered handwritten checks, an immediate red flag since all checks were typically system-generated.

Once they saw the handwritten checks, it became clear who was responsible for creating and altering them—Heather Darrey.

According to court documents, Darrey printed blank checks made out to vendors, got them approved, destroyed the physical checks, and wrote new ones to pay for personal expenses. However, Peña said Darrey’s scheme was more complex.

According to Peña, it involved four methods of siphoning funds. A common maneuver Darrey would use was to create a false invoice within the church system. The timing was favorable as the parish had a lot of invoices moving through.

“At that time, we had a $9 million construction project. All of that filtered through the diocese. But there are ancillary costs that come with that. We were also implementing a security badge card system in our school and church. That project was over $300,000. They bill by the door as each door goes live. So it was not uncommon for us to have invoices weekly from the security company,” said Peña.

Peña said that after she approved the “seemingly normal” invoices, unknowing to her, Darrey would create a few extra items and enter them into the system as belonging to the security company. Then Darrey would either not print the check, or she would print the check, have the church sign off on it. Then she would later destroy the check and handwrite another made out to whoever she wanted to pay for personal expenses.

“She would code the number as the check changed in the system. She would create it and have the church sign it,” Peña said. “Then, she would destroy it and alter the check number to her own.”

Peña added that the handwritten checks were never written out to Darrey. Everything went to a mortgage company, a car payment, or directly to any personal bills Darrey chose to pay.

The handwritten checks went undetected because the church’s bank no longer provided copies of checks that cleared.

“So, in our system, it looked correct.,” she said. But with Positive Pay, even handwritten checks would have gone through the system.

“Everything gets printed. So that would have been the first flag,” she said. “We were in the process of doing that, and I do think time was of the essence for her.”

Darrey, who Peña said participated in the meetings where the staff discussed the transition into Positive Pay, wrote the first handwritten check in late October. Leadership confronted Darrey in early March.

Peña added that Darrey had been in her position for so long she naturally had a lot of knowledge that only she knew. “I think part of the reason that none of us suspected her at first was because she had been here for 26 years,” said Peña, who herself has been with Christ the King for a decade.

“One of my pieces of advice is it doesn’t matter how long staff members have been there,” Peña said. “Everybody should have the same way that they’re looked at, the same protocols, and the same security around them. Pastors change, biblical thinkers change, and we all stay, and there’s a historical knowledge there that can’t necessarily be replaced.”

She said that as much as Christians feel they should trust each other, sometimes temptation overcomes a person. She said Darrey only began stealing in the last five months of her 26 years of working.

In addition to transitioning to Positive Pay, the parish has implemented new protocols, including separating duties so the person entering invoices is no longer the one printing checks, and multiple levels of review and authorization are required before checks are signed.

Peña said the church has forgiven Darrey, prays for her and her family, and encourages others to do the same. She admitted the whole ordeal has been painful for the staff who spent so much time with her over the years.

“ This is somebody that our kids went to school together. We raised our families together.” Peña’s voice broke as she continued. “And then the person’s just immediately gone. When you have a small church staff, you’re a family. You have your parish family, but then you have a staff family. It’s almost like the death of the family because then they are immediately gone.”

Darrey pleaded guilty in June 2024. In addition to her prison sentence, she is required to pay the full amount back in restitution.

Due to the large amount of stolen funds, the United States Secret Service and the Tampa Police Department investigated the case. The legal system’s approach to charges often consolidates multiple offenses under a single count, as seen in Darrey’s case.

Rather than pursuing numerous charges—such as forgery, mail fraud, and check falsification for each offense—the legal system combined these actions under one more significant wire fraud charge to streamline the case. Wire fraud encompasses online payments, which technically qualify as electronic transfers or “wires.” This explains the simplified representation of the crimes in court documents.

The situation has highlighted the importance of reevaluating and updating parish resources—even if the plan appears to be working. Peña also listed third-party audits as a means to review and verify that there are no discrepancies. Lastly, she spoke of the importance of focusing on healing within the community. “ I think that one of the main points we want to make is that it is a privilege and honor to work for the church,” Peña concluded.

“But we all have to stay mindful of everything that can go on and how we can better move forward, how to protect the generosity of the parishioner, the parishioners, and how to do what the church is meant to do.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Why does MinistryWatch report on financial fraud in the church? We report on them because one in three churches will be victimized, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. We also report on them because these crimes have real victims and cost taxpayers and other stakeholders billions of dollars every year. Even small crimes in small churches have huge consequences. We also report on them to remind our readers that they do not have to be victims. There are steps you can take to prevent financial waste, fraud, and abuse in your church or ministry. To find out more, click here.

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