NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – A woman accused of embezzling more than half a million dollars from a Nassau County church will be in court Tuesday morning for a pretrial hearing.
Melissa Ganey English (formerly known as Melissa Ganey Rhoden) is charged with grand theft over $100,000, which is a first-degree felony, after officials said she embezzled more than $570,000 from Amelia Baptist Church.
Investigators said the 44-year-old, who served as the Amelia Baptist Church financial secretary for about 11 years, began pocketing church money in 2019. By 2024, she had spent more than $570,000 of the church’s money on personal expenses.
Deputies said she used a church credit card and payroll access to make personal purchases — including Amazon orders, flights, hotel stays and amusement park tickets.
It all came to light when two new financial committee members noticed bank accounts running lower than they should have been. A full review of church records revealed years of unauthorized charges.
Nassau County deputies said that through unauthorized charges, personal credit card payments, and additional payroll payments to herself, English embezzled:
Nearly $40,000 in 2019
Nearly $90,000 in 2020
More than $100,000 in 2021
Nearly $125,000 in 2022
Just over $123,000 in 2023
More than $90,000 in 2024
English was arrested in Baker County in April after deputies highlighted her case in a “Wanted Wednesday” post.
Following the arrest, Amelia Baptist Church pastor Forrest Jones said in a statement that the church’s leadership reported the theft to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, and that no evidence has been found that any other members, employees or pastors of the church did anything wrong.
“While the last few months have been incredibly hurtful and difficult, it would be easy to become distracted from our main mission as a church,” Jones said in the statement. “Amelia Baptist Church remains committed to the values that make us a church family.”
The pretrial hearing was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.
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