A woman accused of embezzling more than $21,000 from a New Kensington church while serving as treasurer has been ordered to stand trial.

Cheryl M. Garnett, 74, of the 900 block of Freeport Road in East Deer was charged May 17 with a felony count of theft after, New Kensington police said, she admitted to stealing the money from Vermont Baptist Church. She was released from custody on a $40,000 unsecured bond, according to court records.

Garnett waived her right to a preliminary hearing Thursday before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr., who ordered her to stand trial in Westmoreland County Court. Formal arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 2.

A New Kensington police detective sergeant wrote in a criminal complaint charging Garnett that a trustee for the church reported April 11 that church officials suspected Garnett was responsible for the theft of a large amount of money from its savings and checking accounts.

Members of the small Vermont Baptist congregation have been using First Evangelical Lutheran Church on Ridge Avenue in New Kensington for worship services since 2015, after their church building in East Deer became too deteriorated.

The church’s pastor and board members provided police with bank statements showing numerous checks totaling $16,991 written out to “cash.” They were signed by Garnett, who, as treasurer, had the authority to approve the payments, the complaint said.

Board members said the church’s policy is to only issue checks made out to the business or person who is receiving payment, police said.

Church officials also provided police with statements for $4,480 worth of ATM withdrawals dating to 2018 that they considered suspicious, according to the complaint. They said Garnett was the only one who had the ATM bank card and the PIN to access the account, police said.

Church officials said they confronted Garnett when the missing money was discovered, and she told them that she and her husband asked one of the church’s ministers whether they could borrow money from the church, according to the complaint.

Board members said that after they confronted Garnett about the missing money, she responded, “I guess I got a little carried away,” the complaint said. Garnett resigned as treasurer during the meeting with the board, police said.

When police questioned Garnett about the money, she told them that at the end of 2021 she and her husband asked a minister if they could borrow money from the church because their personal bank account was hacked and most of their money was gone, the complaint said.

Garnett told police she withdrew $3,311 at that time with the understanding the money would be repaid once she was reimbursed by her bank, the complaint said.

When police asked Garnett about $9,680 in withdrawals from a church account made between February and November, she told them the money was used to pay for her and her husband’s personal expenses, not for the church, according to the complaint.

Police noted in the complaint that they could find no record of Garnett filing a police report about her bank account being hacked.

Church officials could not be reached for comment about the case.

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