By Michael Gryboski, Editor Monday, March 30, 2026

A church employee has been arrested and charged with allegedly embezzling nearly $95,000 from the  Oklahoma church where she worked.

Kandace Ballenger, 40, was arrested earlier this month and charged with embezzling $94,257.34 from First Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, according to court documents acquired by local media outlet KFOR News Channel 4.

Ballenger is accused of having “willfully and fraudulently” taken the money beginning around August 2024 through February 2025, within months of her starting to work at the church.

Court documents stated that the money was “delivered and entrusted to the care and custody of” Ballenger “as an employee,” who then “did thereafter appropriate to her own use and benefit without the knowledge and consent of First Presbyterian Church.”

The church's staff began to suspect suspicious activity last year and discovered that charges had been made for several unrelated expenses, including $1,000 for home repairs, more than $1,500 on custom quilts, and thousands of dollars at a Crunch Fitness in Norman, according to KFOR.

Ballenger was booked at the Oklahoma County Detention Center after being charged with embezzlement. She was later released after posting bond, reported KFOR.

According to its website, First Presbyterian Church traces its origins to 1889, when the congregation was launched as a “mission church” for the newly founded Oklahoma City.

A member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, the congregation has occupied multiple buildings, having moved to its current location in the 1950s.

“First Church has always been interested in missionary projects,” FPC states on its site. “In 1920, the Home Mission Board made our church a sort of big brother to all Home Mission work in Oklahoma City. Many members in our past have gone on to the mission field, ministry, and education, especially a number of women.”

“Now in the third century of our existence, we continue to spread the Christian message of grace, wholeness and healing, which is our legacy.”

According to a 2017 report from Lifeway Research, 9% of surveyed Protestant pastors said their church has witnessed the embezzlement of funds, citing reliance on volunteers to handle finances as a possible major factor.

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/church-employee-allegedly-stole-nearly-95000-from-congregation.html