A church treasurer in has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after more than $40,000 in church funds was reported missing in Coloma.
34-year-old Cecily Cogswell-Finehout of Benton Harbor was also ordered to pay $42,055 in restitution for embezzling from the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Coloma, where she was treasurer for two years. WSBT is reporting she’ll also be on probation for five years.
Some checks from church members were cashed but no records kept that they were received. Cogswell-Finehout told authorities she had been writing unauthorized checks to herself from the church’s bank account between March of 2015 and January of 2017 to help pay her bills.