GREENSBURG, Pa.,None — A Penn Township, Westmoreland County, woman is accused of breaking into a safe and stealing more than $28,000 from the church where she was choir director.
According to Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLive, Gloria Christofano, 42, is also a middle school music teacher at Boyce Middle School in the Upper St. Clair School District in Allegheny County.
She was arraigned Monday on charges of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property in connection with thefts at St. Paul's Parish in Hempfield Township between July and November.
Upper St. Clair Superintendent Dr. Patrick O'Toole released the following statement on Tuesday:
"We just learned of the accusations through the media yesterday. The school district is conducting an investigation and will take the appropriate actions based on the investigation."
"From what I remember about her, she always seemed friendly and good with the kids and she'd always put on really good programs," said Arsenio Manelo, who has two children attending Boyce.
Investigators said church officials approached prosecutors in November about money that was missing from a locked safe in the church.
Christofano is accused of taking $28,800, but an audit revealed the church lost about $65,000 during 2009, according to the police affidavit.
Christofano was released as the church's choir director after she became a suspect.
Police said Christofano denied any involvement in the missing church money, but when investigators then showed her video of her entering the office where the safe is located, she admitted to taking church funds, police said.
Investigators said Christofano said she took the money two months earlier to help a relative who filed for personal bankruptcy. She told detectives that she had returned the stolen checks and kept $1,000, according to authorities.
Christofano told police she "tweaked the combination lock and turned the handle of the safe until the safe opened," authorities said.
Police said they recovered church security bags containing about $5,000 in offerings from collections from her garage, according to the affidavit.
Church officials said they got a check for $4,000 from Christofano in December to cover "restitution."
Detectives said they told Christofano in February that an audit determined church losses were $65,000. County Detective Will Brown received a mailed note from Christofano that she would repay the entire amount of money the church has lost "although she was not involved in the theft of the entire amount," Brown wrote in the affidavit.
Christofano's preliminary hearing is scheduled Friday.
• E-Mail Newsletter: Get The Latest News Sent To Your E-Mail! • Mobile: Get WPXI Headlines On Your Phone, iPhone, More • RSS: Add Us To Your Page!
WPXI
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
