A woman on probation for stealing $20,000 from a Derry Borough Presbyterian church in 2017 and 2018 was arrested this week on accusations she racked up $5,560 in personal expenses on a credit card belonging to another borough church.
Teri Sauers, 39, of Salem was working as a secretary at Derry First United Methodist Church when she was instructed Aug. 9 to close a credit card account belonging to the church, according to court papers. The card had a zero balance at the time.
Instead, she is accused of using the card 57 times between Aug. 10 and Feb. 21, when the church received a bill, borough police said. Police Chief Randy Glick said Sauers used the card to purchase hair products, a set of tires for her personal vehicle and meals at Olive Garden and Chick-fil-A.
Sauers is charged with theft and access device fraud. She was arrested Tuesday and is free on $5,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is set for April 26. She did not have an attorney listed in online court records and could not be reached.
Sauers was arrested in April 2019 on a theft charge after, Westmoreland County detectives said, she wrote 17 checks to herself from Derry Presbyterian Church accounts. She was church treasurer at the time. Sauers repaid some of the money to the church before being arrested and has made restitution in full, according to court records.
In March 2020, Sauers was sentenced to three years of probation, but that was revoked last month. Her probation officer said in a court filing Sauers owed about $1,500 in costs and fees and had not undergone a mental health evaluation that was a condition of the original sentence. Another condition of that sentence was that she not work or volunteer in a position that involves handling money.
She was resentenced March 13 to three years of probation and ordered to complete a mental health evaluation, according to court records.
