Welch indicted for stealing from church

A local man has been indicted on 20 criminal counts for stealing from a church.

The defendant, Anthony Welch, was indicted recently on charges of theft and forgery for defrauding Sink Creek Missionary Baptist Church of $1,700 during a month-long spending spree at the rural church’s expense.

The 20-count indictment charging 10 counts of theft and 10 counts of forgery comes after Welch allegedly passed 10 checks belonging to the church last July.

The checks, passed at various local businesses, ranged in size from $15 up to $400. All but three were for amounts of $100 or more.

An investigation revealed Welch apparently came into possession of the checks by stealing them from his father-in-law’s home. His father-in-law is a member of the church and was unaware his son-in-law was passing the checks in the church’s name.

While the individual thefts are misdemeanors since none of the checks were over $500, the grand total of the fraud makes it a felony since it amounted to the church being taken for well over $1,000.