Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Church Secretary Stole $570K, Splurged on Cruises and Shopping Sprees: Cops

Episode Date: June 8, 2025

Melissa English faces a grand theft charge in Nassau County, Florida. The former church finance secretary is accused of stealing $570,000 from Amelia Baptist Church between 2019 and 2024. English's arrest was captured by body-worn cameras. Court documents claim she spent the money on purchases from Wal-Mart, Amazon and vacations. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the body camera footage in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. Detectives confront a church secretary suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church where she worked. They said she used it on cruises and spending sprees on Amazon and Walmart. I take you through the allegations made against Melissa English and the body camera footage

of her arrest. Welcome to Crime Fix, I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. You know, I don't know about you, but when I think about working at a church, it reminds me of my grandma. She was a church secretary for decades. She was devoted to the church, typing up the newsletter and printing Sunday bulletins, and she would never, ever steal. That wouldn't even cross her mind. But a church financial secretary in Florida is accused of stealing not just a little

bit from the church where she worked, but a lot. Melissa English faces a grand theft charge. Detectives in Nassau County, which is north of Jacksonville, say English used her position as a church finance secretary to steal $570,000 from the church over five years. That is a lot of money, more than half a million dollars. The investigation into Melissa English started in November of 2024 when the pastor of Amelia Baptist Church contacted the Nassau County Sheriff's Office and said a new accountant noticed some major issues with the church's books. An affidavit claims that the pastor and the accountants confronted English and she admitted

to using her church credit card to pay for $300,000 in personal expenses. Here's a sample. The affidavit states, in 2019, English made a total of $2,954.07 in unauthorized and fraudulent transactions using the church's credit card. In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments, totalling $33,037.47 toward her own personal credit cards. Furthermore, she issued herself additional payroll payments through the church, amounting to $3,925.29. Altogether, English embezzled a total of $39,916.83 from the church in 2019. Now in 2020, detectives say the amount that English stole increased. The affidavit says in 2020, English made a total of $21,682.91 in unauthorized and fraudulent transactions using the church's credit card.

In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments totaling $48,651.76 toward her own personal credit cards. Furthermore, she issued herself additional payroll payments through the church amounting to $17,912.46. All together, English embezzled a total of $88,247.13 from the church in 2020. Now in 2021, investigators appear to think that English became more bold, using church money to pay for clothes and vacations. The affidavit says, in 2021, English made a total

of $26,811.50 in unauthorized and fraudulent transactions using the church's credit card. These transactions included charges to companies such as Amazon, Amir Tires, SeaWorld, Geico, Hey Dude Shoes, Southwest Airlines, Hyatt Orlando, New Skin slash FarmX, Topgolf Jacksonville, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Thrifty Rent-a-Car, and a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments

totaling $60,612.32 toward her own personal credit cards. Furthermore, she issued herself additional payroll payments through the church, amounting to $14,691.17. Altogether, English embezzled a total of $102,114.99 from the church in 2021. This is a law and crime legal alert. Did you know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type two diabetes and non alcoholic fatty liver disease, and research is potentially linking ultra processed foods to these outcomes. Morgan and Morgan is stepping in to fight to hold

food companies accountable. With decades of experience fighting large corporations, they are ready to stand up for families who deserve justice. If your child under 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit www.forthepeople.com slash food or scan the QR code on your screen to learn more. Now there's even more as far as Melissa English's alleged spending with the church money goes

and I'll tell you more about it later on. But first, let's get to the body camera footage of English's arrest. Baker County Sheriff's deputies went to a house to arrest English. Hey, how you doing, sir? Are you the owner of this house? My son-in-law, him and his wife are inside. They have a baby. Hi. Hey, how you doing? English. She's been on the phone with the guy. Yeah, she already has a thing scheduled for tomorrow morning. At 9am there's been a detective from Nassau County.

The lead detective on the case. And they called us to get a hold of him. Yeah, that's fine. She's already got a hold of them. So can y'all call and confirm that please? They called us to come check her. Y'all want, they want y'all to take her? That's correct. Can I ask when this happened?

OK, are y'all able to call the lead investigator? Otherwise I can't provide tomorrow. No, no, no, no, I'm just trying to understand what's happening. So right there, the homeowner is questioning why the deputies are there to arrest English because she has an appointment set up for the very next morning to surrender herself. But the deputy basically tells the woman they were instructed to pick up English, then they set out to find her on the property. I just have a question real quick. Is

that okay? Okay. Okay. If they said, Hey, you can turn yourself in at this time, why is it no longer being abided by? They can stay here. You go handle it. Y'all come home. No, no, no. Hold on. This isn't my husband's property. Can I just talk to him real quick please? That back half's not ours. Where is she? She's just outside.

I'm just confused why Lee was the interceder. That's fine. I don't know how this works. Does that make sense? I need to look at me. So she's going to have to go to our Sheriff's office. She'll get transferred to Nassau County tomorrow. She'll see a judge, she'll talk to the investigator. The investigator might come to us.

But they requesting us to come pick her up, said that she was here. Can y'all walk with me? Well hold on. I just have a question. Is that okay? Okay. If they said, hey, you can turn yourself in at this time, why is it no longer being abided by? Does that make sense?

That is weird. You gotta imagine so many people have told us, we'll meet you there tomorrow. And they're in Tallahassee going west all night then. Can I handle it? Yeah. Just go with me. No, no, no. They can stay here.

You go handle it. Y'all come home. No, no, no. Hold on. This is my husband's property. Can I just talk to him real quick, please? That back cap's not ours. Where is she?

She's just outside. I can... She just ran inside when the cop came around. No, that was me. That was me. This is my house. When I see cops pulling up us a bit. Despite the homeowners resistance, they agree to escort the officers to the building where Melissa is hanging out. So she's back here? Yeah, there's a little cooking house in the back here. Not like swarmer. No, no, not you.

I'm talking about my wife. Nice little hangout spot. Is there another door on the back? There's not. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Say no. Yeah. There are some pants off. Listen, you have your ID on your life.

Why did they say I could just come in the morning? So 27th, Georgia. Well, they asked for us to come pick you up. You got a message from our. Tomorrow and then they would start. can we can we do this? And I don't know if we can or not. Can we y'all follow or whatever? Can we take her to Massa now? So there's not a transport deal for her now?

She can. If she was going to bond out tomorrow, to monitor that, that was the idea. She could still bond out with us. Do I need to let the bell bondsman know that I'm now in Baker County? Can see fine bonds, please. Yeah. Say all the phone numbers. Just attorney bondsman. Okay. So we appreciate you guys helping us out.

We'll help out as much as possible, but there's only so much we can do. I've had like one speaking about tickets. I've never been in any kind of trouble. The deputies explained to Melissa English that she may be processed and released after posting bail. She may not even have to change into a jail jumpsuit. But her family, they still have a lot of questions. How is there a bond if she hasn't went to court?

They still preset bonds. It's a preset bond? Yeah, it all depends on the charges and all that. It all depends on the charges you get. Or was a bond set by the judge at the time? It was a bond set by the judge at the time that this all happened. So when we get one of those signs sometimes I say no bond or no bond. If she has a warrant they have the right to come get her. It doesn't matter.

I know. Okay, let me call you back. Bye. Does she think arguing is helping anything right now? No, she's just confused. She said she had a thing for tomorrow. I said, I know, but it doesn't matter. We do understand that.

However, if we get a call and we make contact where the individual has the warrant, can't walk away. Yeah. That's the only thing. And like I said, they told us it wasn't like she has a meeting at 9 a.m. Just want to confirm.

It was, you're potentially here, please go check. Then Melissa English tells the deputies she is not one bit happy that her face was blasted all over the sheriff's office Facebook page on a wanted poster. They told us it wasn't like she has a meeting at 9 a.m. Just want to confirm it was your potentially here. Please go check. It was you're potentially here. Please go check That's why my gun bought because I never been in trouble for and I told the lady where I was when I called When I saw the poster of myself I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone.

I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone.

I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone.

I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to the phone. I'm gonna go to You knew her address, you knew where she lived. The Facebook, that's crazy. Yeah, I don't know.

And no one contacted me. So there was like on the Sheriff's Office page, they put the wanted thing out. That's how I found out. I got on Facebook just hanging out here with her earlier and saw my face on a wanted poster. So I called her and said... So we're like $3,000 thing. So we've been here.

But Nassau can't come here. People have been in our house. Right, but... They're taking pictures of places. So we live in Camden County. I live in Camden County, yeah. So like, they couldn't have called the Sheriff's Office in Camden County and just said, here's where she lives.

They could, huh? That's correct. The Facebook thing's crazy. So now... Camden probably could have already been out to your house, I don't believe. I mean, I was there until I came here. But the crazy thing is now all these crazy people think they're going to get $3,000 reward because I'm on the run or something. And they're sending pictures of my house on all these rants and race stages. So I'm like, I have children.

Nobody thinks about that. I'm not some horrible, evil person that deserves to be witch-mauved. My children dance for adults. I can only speak about like what we do for Baker and usually if we do anything on our Facebook it's usually reaching out to try to identify somebody. We don't. It posted it and said wanted, like there's a ghost in our reward. I'm like, just wanted. How about try contacting me first? I would have gladly come in rather than have this. Melissa English eventually agrees to go with the deputies,

and they don't even put her in handcuffs. She's pretty lucky. And if you remain in full common collective, we won't cuff you up and all that stuff. Especially in front of kids, we try not to do that. Yeah. Unless you make us. Three-year-old, people's one-year-old,

but the eight-year-old knows a lot. So here, Melissa is taken into custody. You're good. You're good. You're good. You have zero problems. Let her have a seat. We're good. Just please stay on the go. I can't. They're taking her. Hey, 100,000. 10,000. 10%. Can I hug her real quick? Yeah. So let's get back to more of what detectives say Melissa English stole from the church. Earlier, we left off at 2021, but detectives say in 2022, English used church money to buy things at Walmart, Amazon, Progressive Insurance, an Airbnb, Carnival Cruise Lines, Courtyard by Marriott and concert tickets.

In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments totaling $99,876.05 toward her personal credit cards. Furthermore, she issued herself additional payroll payments through the church, amounting to $1,666.67. All together, English embezzled a total of $124,922.34 from the church in 2022. The following year, the detectives say the amount was around the same. Detectives wrote, English made a total of $11,738.86 in unauthorized and fraudulent

transactions using the church's credit card. These transactions included charges to companies such as Amazon, Georgia Power, Venmo, Hampton Inn, Progressive Insurance, and Walmart. In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments totaling $112,072.03 toward her own personal credit cards. Altogether English embezzled a total of $123,810.89 from the church in 2023. And finally, in 2024, detectives said that English made a total of $35,213 in unauthorized and fraudulent transactions using the church's credit card. These transactions included charges to companies such as Amazon, Progressive Insurance, Georgia Power, Hilton Cardin Inn, Residence Inn, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Colorado Rockies

Tickets, Major League Baseball, Cash App, and Carnival Cruise Lines. In addition to these fraudulent charges, English also used the church's account to make payments totaling $49,023.58 toward her own personal credit cards. Furthermore, she issued herself additional payroll payments through the church, amounting to $7,696.76. Altogether English embezzled a total of $91,933.40 from the church in 2024. Now back in 2015, English had actually launched a GoFundMe to go on a church mission trip to New York. Now there wasn't anything illegal about that. Melissa English was booked into the Baker County Jail and released just two

hours later when she posted her $100,000 bond. This happened after her arrest. She has since pleaded not guilty. And according to the court docket, last month a judge ordered that her GPS monitoring be removed as a condition of her bail. Melissa English is due in court later this month for a pretrial hearing. And that's it for this episode of CrimeFix. I'm Anjana Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.