Church treasurer, 80, gets prison time for stealing $515,000

Church treasurer, 80, gets prison time for stealing $515,000

MARIETTA

An 80-year-old woman has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for stealing more than a half-million dollars from the Marietta church where she had been treasurer for decades.

Betty Wheaton, of Belpre, briefly apologized in court before she was sentenced Monday.

She didn’t offer an explanation and told a Washington County judge she doesn’t know what happened to the money.

Wheaton had pleaded guilty to aggravated theft, a felony.

Washington County prosecutors say she admitted stealing $515,000 from Bethel Lighthouse Baptist Church in Marietta since 2011, plus additional, unknown amounts dating to the late 1990s.

She was ordered to pay restitution for the known amount.

Bethel Lighthouse pastor Kevin Gutberlet also spoke before the sentencing, telling the court that Wheaton betrayed his congregation.

Mom gets 10 years in prison for death of baby in hot car

ZANESVILLE

A Zanesville woman who left her 2-month-old son in a car on one of the hottest days of the year has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his death.

The Zanesville Times Recorder reports the heat index reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit last Sept. 4 when Samantha Donohoe went inside her Zanesville apartment, leaving her son in the car for more than two hours.

An assistant Muskingum County prosecutor says the temperature in the vehicle reached 130 degrees.

The 27-year-old Donohoe was sentenced Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

She originally was charged with murder.

Donohoe’s 1-month-old daughter died in 2017 from asphyxiation while asleep on a couch with her.

Associated Press