Austin’s University United Methodist Church employee charged in theft www.privateofficer.com
Audrea Curtis, 49, has been charged with third-degree felony theft, the affidavit said. She is not currently in custody, according to jail records.
The affidavit said that Curtis was employed at the church’s Early Childhood Center. She had been using a credit card the church gave her to make official purchases for her own personal transactions, the affidavit said. Curtis spent $14,736 using the credit card on clothes at Ross, a bill from Austin Community College, beauty shops and auto repair, the affidavit said.
When advised of her credit card debt, Curtis withdrew the cash from the church’s bank account because she could not pay it off herself.
On April 22, Curtis was reported as having withdrawn $21,876 in cash from the church’s bank account despite not being authorized to do so, the affidavit said. Curtis regularly went to the bank to make deposits for the church, so the bank mistakenly assumed she was a signer on the account, the affidavit said.
“She advised she has a problem and uses shopping as a kind of stress therapy and did not mean for this to get this out of control,” a detective said in the affidavit.
The church has been left with a credit card debt of about $23,000 because of Curtis’ actions, the affidavit said.
