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July 11, 1996
Episcopal News Service
James Solheim, Director
(212) 922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

Former Episcopal Church treasurer sentenced to five years for embezzlement

by James H. Thrall
     (ENS) Dismissing claims of former Episcopal Church treasurer Ellen
Cooke that mental illness combined with stress caused her to embezzle more
than $2 million from the church, United States District Court Judge
Maryanne Trump Barry departed from court guidelines, July 10, to hand Cooke
a stiffer than usual sentence of five years in prison.
     While Cooke's attorney, Plato Cacheris, had argued that the sentence
should be less than normally stipulated by the guidelines because Cooke
suffered from a type of "bipolar" mental disorder, Barry called the
psychological defense "spurious" and instead condemned Cooke's efforts to
avoid responsibility.
     "This defendant deliberately and meticulously, and with knowledge then
and now, looted the national church over a period of years with one reason
and one reason only--to live the life of someone she was not," Barry said.
Noting that she has rarely ordered a stiffer sentence than the sentencing
guidelines recommend, Barry nonetheless said that the circumstances of
Cooke's case "scream for an upward departure."
     Asking "Is nothing sacred any more," Barry said the crime was
particularly heinous because it involved a church. Cooke, she said, was no
different from a common thief. "She did not wear a mask or use a gun," she
said, but did not need to because of the trust placed in her as a top
official of a religious institution.
     Barry said she based her decision on the loss of confidence that
resulted for "an institution that performs an essential function in the
care of the needy," the disruption caused in the church's ability to
"support its ministry at home and abroad," and on the "flagrant" nature of
the abuse of trust. 
     Barry ordered Cooke to report on August 26 to the Federal Prison Camp
for Women at Alderson, West Virginia, to serve her sentence, which is to be
followed by an additional three years of supervised release. She also
ordered Cooke to pay $75,000 to the church in additional restitution.
     For the purposes of restitution, Barry accepted the church's claim
that the theft totaled $2.2 million, rather than the approximately $1.5
million claimed by Cooke, but noted that "restitution can only be made
according to the ability to pay." To date the church has recovered about
$1.6 million of the stolen funds, including a $1 million insurance
settlement, sale of properties owned by Cooke and her husband, Nicholas,
and other cash and assets claimed from the Cookes. A civil suit brought
against the Cookes was settled by the church in March.

Cooke's attorney contemplating appeal
     Sitting in the same Newark, New Jersey, courtroom where she pleaded
guilty in January to tax evasion and transporting stolen money across state
lines in the embezzlement, Cooke sat impassively through the two-hour
hearing, rising once to say  "No, your honor," when asked if she had any
comment to make. She was accompanied by a few supporters, but by no members
of her family.
     Cacheris, who has 10 days in which to file an appeal, said he is
considering it, using Barry's dismissal of the psychological defense as one
of several grounds. He called Cooke a "fundamentally good person" who has
done "many commendable things in her life." Unfortunately, he said, "she
suffers from this illness."
     In a memorandum to the court, he said that Cooke's psychiatrist
diagnosed her as having an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder as
well as suffering "periods of hypomanic behavior and periods of depressive
symptoms." Those disorders, he said, combined with the high stress of
serving in a position for which she was not qualified during a time when
she carried the personal burdens of suffering a miscarriage and assisting
her parents who were being treated for serious illness.
     But Barry agreed with Assistant United States Attorney Robert Ernst
who called the defense ploy "a charade," and pointed out that Cooke was
able to function quite rationally and competently throughout the four years
of the embezzlement. Her claims to have forgotten the specific events of
her embezzlement because of the personality disorder, he said, in
particular was "selective" and a "carefully calculated" fabrication.
     "I am absolutely convinced that the defendant did not suffer from a
significantly reduced mental capacity when she committed the crime she
committed," Barry said. "She performed every task very well, including
embezzling $2 million."

Letter plays key role
     Barry read aloud most of a one-and-a-half-page letter written by seven
members of the senior staff of the national church, including Presiding
Bishop Edmond Browning and House of Deputies President Pamela Chinnis, to
support her assessment of the harm the embezzlement caused the church's
ministry. The staff  were invited to offer input into the sentencing
process. 
     "While we have no desire for retribution or the imposition of more
hurt on Mrs. Cooke's family," the staff members wrote, "it ... is our
collective belief that a lenient sentence would add further to the damages
that we have suffered."
     The financial impact has been severe as contributions to the national
church have declined, and even other denominations have reported that
"their contributions have suffered because of the ripple effect of Mrs.
Cooke's actions," the letter stated, but "the psychic impact on our staff
and organization has been more debilitating."
     Former staff members who lost jobs "due to economic retrenchment,
cannot be convinced that there is no direct correlation between her actions
and the loss of their employment," the letter stated. "Beneficiaries of
ministry programs that have been closed due to declining income share the
same impression."
     Cacheris challenged the letter as making unsubstantiated claims, but
declined, after conferring with Cooke, when Barry asked if he wanted to
hold a separate sentencing hearing to review the letter's statements.
Following the hearing, Cacheris said Cooke had not wanted to endure an
additional hearing.
     
Presiding Bishop sees end of "painful chapter"
     Following the sentence, Browning noted that "the judge herself
recognized the enormity of the tragedy of this embezzlement and its effects
over these last 18 months on our church." Since the theft was discovered,
he said, the task of national staff, as stewards of church funds, "has been
restitution of what has been stolen, the restoration of confidence, and the
assurance of a financial operation of soundness and integrity."
     Browning added, "As members of a faith community, we have faced the
equally difficult task of coming again and again to our knowledge of sin,
repentance, redemption and healing." As the day of sentencing marks "the
end of an enormously painful chapter, may it mark As well a beginning
characterized by our knowledge that all is possible in Christ," he said.
"My prayers are with Ellen Cooke and her family."
     When Cooke's case came under the jurisdiction of the federal courts,
Chinnis noted, "it was removed completely from any influence or control by
the Episcopal Church, though there were many who wondered why the
leadership of the church could not hasten a decision in this case." Now,
she said, "for good or ill, the legal justice system has spoken."
     Fortunately, Chinnis said, the church has managed to recover most of
the monies that were taken "so the damage to our evangelism and outreach
programs will not be permanent." A new financial team, she stressed, "has
restored integrity within our system" and helped develop "additional means
to minimize our future vulnerability." 
     She added, "We can only pray that God will bring healing to all who
have been affected by these acts and that we can move on to do the work God
has given us to do."

--James H. Thrall is deputy director of news and information for the
Episcopal Church.