Woman charged with stealing $562,000 from Burlco church

A 43-year-old woman was charged with embezzling $561,777 from a Florence church, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a news release Tuesday.

Taisha D. Smith-DeJoseph of Willingboro allegedly stole the money over a five-year period, until March 2019, when she was responsible for overseeing the finances for St. Paul’s Baptist Church. She used the money to pay car loans, rent, credit card expenses, satellite television, and mobile phone bills, hundreds of online purchases, and her wedding at a Burlington County venue, Coffina said.

Smith-DeJoseph failed to file income tax returns for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, Coffina said. In 2017, she allegedly filed a fraudulent tax return.

She was charged with theft by deception, computer criminal activity, and related offenses.