Christ the King finance supervisor sentenced to more than 4 decades for embezzling

LUBBOCK, Texas (Information Release) – A Christ the King finance supervisor who embezzled much more than a quarter of a million dollars from the church was sentenced right now to extra than 4 many years in federal prison, declared U.S. Lawyer for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Former Christ the King Cathedral Church Lubbock staff Nathan Allen Webb, 43, pleaded guilty in February to wire fraud. He was sentenced Thursday to 51 months in federal prison by U.S. District Decide James Wesley Hendrix, who ordered him to pay out $261,440.20 in restitution.

According to plea papers, Mr. Webb – the only church staff with access to the church’s PayPal and Venmo accounts – admitted he transferred $261,440.20 in parishioner donations from the church to himself working with those people platforms. More than the study course of 18 months, he created extra than 230 unauthorized transfers. He then altered church financial institution statements to make PayPal and Venmo debits show up as credits, so concealing his criminal action from the church finance committee and diocese.

On February 23, 2021, Mr. Webb traveled to Colombia, South The usa, using a church laptop computer with him. Even though in Colombia, on March 2, he transferred $2,914.07 from the Church’s PayPal account to his personal PayPal account and then to his bank account. The church learned his fraud and confronted him the pursuing working day.

At his sentencing listening to, prosecutors informed the decide that next the confrontation, Mr. Webb remained in Colombia, ultimately overstaying his visa. The Colombian governing administration requested him to leave the state, so he procured a ticket from Cartagena to Fort Lauderdale, in which he realized FBI brokers would be waiting around for him. Alternatively of boarding the flight, having said that, he traveled a lot more than 500 miles inland to Pereira. Colombian officials there found and detained him they continued to maintain him based mostly upon an Interpol Red Observe till the U.S. governing administration negotiated his release and returned him to Texas.

Offered Mr. Webb’s calculated plot to evade law enforcement, the decide agreed an obstruction of justice enhancement was appropriate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Discipline Business executed the investigation with sizeable help from FBI agents stationed in Colombia. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Ann Howey prosecuted the case.

Copyright 2022 KCBD. All legal rights reserved. Details delivered by the U.S. Legal professional for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.