When you see headlines involving fraud, forgery and the elderly, most stories explain how the older adults are often taken advantage of. One man recently pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his grandmother while another man reportedly defrauded an elderly woman with dementia out of millions by posing as her son. However, a case in North Carolina is flipping the narrative around.
An elderly woman outside of Greensboro is facing multiple charges after reportedly stealing from the church where she worked.
According to the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, 79-year-old Betty Fowler Collins, of Thomasville, is accused of forging checks and embezzling more than $150,000 from Liberty Baptist Church. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the sheriff's office began investigating Collins' alleged crimes two months ago.
While employed by the church as the secretary-treasurer, she reportedly forged bank checks from the church's account and embezzled the money between January 2009 and August 2020, after which she was no longer employed in that position.
Collins was arrested Tuesday (May 18) and charged with one count of embezzlement and eight counts of forgery. She was booked into jail on a $25,000 bond, but WRAL reports that her status at the jail was unclear as of Friday.
She is scheduled to appear in court on June 24.
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