Man accused of stealing nearly $250,000 from Carnegie church

A man is charged with stealing nearly $250,000 from a Carnegie church.

William Reed, 73, reportedly worked at St. John Lutheran Church for 14 years where he held positions that gave him access to church funds. Allegheny County Police say Reed stole over $224,000 during that time.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it that somebody would do that to a church,” Sallie Willoughby, of Carnegie, said.

In the criminal complaint, Allegheny County police say board members noticed small accounting issues over the years while Reed was the church’s treasurer but that he would reassure them that there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Two years ago, things became clearer after the church implemented a new accounting system that showed even more financial discrepancies. When brought up to Reed, he would “stonewall” board members and refuse to turn over any requested documentation, in particular, any documentation for a checking account referred to as the “Good Samaritan Account.”

After providing seven years of bank statements to police, from January 2018 to May of this year, the board found numerous payments from the “Good Samaritan Account” to an American Express account that didn’t belong to the church.

Through a search warrant, investigators pulled 800 pages of data that showed payments made to a personal American Express account owned by William Reed, totaling $224,000.

“People get desperate, people get greedy. People do things once and think they can get away with it, and then they do it more and more and more,” Ralph Mills, of Crafton, said.

In May of this year, the complaint says Reed admitted to stealing and misappropriating church funds to two church board members. Days later, he reportedly met with a board member in the church parking lot where he asked if “we could make this go away”, allegedly offering a $20,000 direct payment to the church.

Channel 11 spoke with William Reed’s attorney who says his client turned himself in Monday morning and that he was released on bail. His attorney says he hasn’t had an opportunity to review the charges yet.

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