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Suspect in church theft is arraigned
YOUNGSTOWN
A 37-year-old woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a downtown church remains free after posting 10 percent of her $10,000 bond.
Lori Ramsey, of Vienna Avenue, Niles, appeared Tuesday before Magistrate Daniel Dascenzo of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for arraignment on charges of grand theft and misuse of a debit card. She is accused of stealing an estimated $46,000 from Trinity United Methodist Church on Front Street while employed at the church.
Each of the two charges carries a possible six- to 18-month prison term.
Ramsey appeared for the hearing without an attorney and sat quietly toward the back of the courtroom. She pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to appear before Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of common pleas court for a pretrial Friday. A trial date has been set for Oct. 3.
Ramsey told the court she lost her job at the church once the theft allegations surfaced. She had been employed at the church for nearly two years. She also said she lost a part-time job at another business once the allegations became public and could not afford her own attorney.
Dascenzo did not appoint an attorney to handle the case. He said the matter will be addressed by Judge D’Apolito.
Prosecutors asked that Ramsey be placed in county jail on a $10,000 bond pending her trial, but attorneys speaking on Ramsey’s behalf at the hearing said the amount was excessive because Ramsey has not tried to flee and has “done everything asked of her.”
Judge D’Apolito allowed Ramsey to post 10 percent of the $10,000 in order to be released from jail.
The Rev. Steve Sparling, church pastor, told police May 19 that another church employee discovered a large amount of unpaid bills in Ramsey’s former office and that there were about $21,000 in unauthorized checks made out to her.
Church employees also said they discovered that she took the church bank-debit card and withdrew about $8,000, the cash from Sunday service plate collections was never deposited, and that Ramsey charged an unspecified amount of unauthorized purchases to a credit card.
In an apparent effort to cover up the theft, Ramsey transferred via phone $26,000 from a money-market account into the church’s main account, church officials told police.