Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Victory Church Conned Out of $150K, Say Authorities

Written by Tim Zatzariny, Jr.  


A bookkeeper swindled a local church out of more than $150,000, authorities said. 

The bookkeeper, James Lee Moody, of the 3500 block of Woodhaven Road in Philadelphia, was arrested Tuesday and charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of deposited funds; theft by deception. unlawful use of a computer and related offenses, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Lower Providence Police Chief Bud Carroll. 

Moody stole a total of $156,041.75 from Victory Church on Audubon Road in Lower Providence while employed there from May 2011 to May 2013, authorities said.  

Moody, 47, secretly directed the church's payroll company to make regular deposits into his personal bank accounts as his payment, even though he had already been paid directly by the church for the same work. 

Moody has been a party in a Pennsylvania court before, according to The Mercury.

In December 2001, Moody, then a Souderton resident, was accused of credit card fraud and theft in connection to his position as a controller for Special Olympics of Pennsylvania, located in Montgomery county, per court records and an arrest affidavit. He was accused of stealing $20,865 from the organization, and was sentenced to incarceration and probation.  

More recently, his  job was to manage and administer Victory Church's finances, for $18 per hour. He would submit an invoice to the church as his timesheet, and the church would pay him directly, authorities said. 

Moody received a total of 50 deposits from the payroll company while simultaneously being paid by the church, according to Ferman and Carroll. From May 2011 to May 2012, there were 25 deposits of $2,700 each. From June 2012 to May 2013, there were an additional 25 deposits totaling $3,541.67.

Moody also is accused of committing multiple counts of identity theft when he was hired in 2011, by providing Victory Church with another person's Social Security number, date of birth and Pennsylvania driver's license, which impeded his pre-hire background investigation, authorities said. 

Moody was held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $250,000 cash bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25 before Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar in Collegeville. 

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