BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. announced the guilty plea of an Allen County, Kentucky woman before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl, yesterday, to three counts of wire fraud, for embezzling $274,846 from her former employer, the Scottsville Baptist Church.
According to the plea agreement, Patricia Barlow, age 49, was a secretary at the Scottsville Baptist Church (SBC), located at 301 East Main Street, in Scottsville, Kentucky, and on numerous occasions made unauthorized wire transfers to pay for personal expenses using SBC funds. The scheme to defraud SBC began in January of 2011, and lasted until SBC discovered the fraud in the spring of 2015. Three of the alleged wire transfers were made on Jan. 1, 2007, in the amount of $512.29; Jan. 14, 2011, in the amount of $1,400; and a wire transfer of $425.00 on Jan. 28, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, at sentencing, Barlow will pay $274,846 in restitution, is liable to the court for a special assessment in the amount of $300 and the United States has agreed to recommend a sentence of imprisonment at the lowest end of the applicable guideline range.
Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Greg N. Stivers on Feb. 22, 2016, at 10:00am, in Bowling Green.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Weiser and is being investigated by the United States Secret Service and Scottsville (Kentucky) Police Department.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
