wfn.org | Synod Bookkeeper Gets 10 Years For Embezzlement

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12-April-1999 
99144 
 
    Synod Bookkeeper Gets 10 Years For Embezzlement 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Florida court has sentenced a former bookkeeper of the 
Synod of the South Atlantic to 10 years in prison for theft of synod funds. 
 
    Adelita Magpusao, the synod's bookkeeper for 10 years, pleaded guilty 
to grand theft in a Jacksonville, Fla., court on Jan. 28 and was sentenced 
on April 6. In addition to the 10 years in state prison, Magpusao was put 
on probation for 15 years. She also was ordered to pay restitution of 
$474,562.37 and to write an apology to the synod and to each of the synod's 
ministries affected by the theft. The judge also ordered her to complete 
1,000 hours of community service. 
 
    The embezzlement was discovered last July when an uncashed check was 
returned to the synod office. The check, bearing the forged signature of 
the office administrative assistant, turned out to be a payment on a credit 
card held by Magpusao. 
 
    Synod officials initially estimated the loss at about $81,000. The 
actual total came as an rude surprise. 
 
    "The $475,000 payback is not quite the total theft," the Rev. John 
Bartholomew, synod executive, told the Presbyterian News Service. He said 
synod officials believe Magpusao embezzled about $543,000, largely by 
falsifying budgets and pocketing underspent synod funds. "She'll have to 
live to be 150 to pay this back," Bartholomew said. 
 
    Magpusao has paid the synod $20,000. 
 
    Bartholomew said the synod has restored some of the stolen money from 
its reserves. Hit hardest by the thefts, he said, were justice ministries 
and new-church development. 
 
    The Duvall County Public Defenders' Office said Magpusao's attorney 
filed a motion for an appeal on April 9. 

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