DURYEA, Pa. — A former parish secretary in Luzerne County has been arrested. Police said Denise Decker stole nearly $100,000 from Nativity of our Lord Parish in Duryea.
According to court papers, Decker admitted to stealing weekly donation money from the church over the course of five years.
Decker was a 20-year employee of the church who served as the church secretary.
Mark Mustapich has been a parishioner for more than 30 years.
"I don't understand, you know? I don't know how people could do that. It ain't only the church. It's going around," Mustapich said.
"It's just pitiful. It's sad that you feel the need to steal from first of all where you work, second of all, from a church," Amanda Brennan of Duryea said.
Officers said Decker told investigators she would come into work early on Mondays and take money envelopes from the collection bags before the money counting teams arrived.
She told police she did this from 2014 up until she was fired in 2019. That's when other members noticed suspicious activity on a program used to track the church's finances.
Court paperwork shows that the priest noticed 111 missing church donation envelopes. Police officers ended up looking through Decker's trash and found some of those donation envelopes.
"When we're talking about parishioners' money, they expect, and they entrust their dollars go to benefit their parish, benefit the parish ministries that are so vital to our communities," Eric Deabill of the Diocese of Scranton said.
Decker was arrested but is free on bail.
Court paperwork does not say what Decker did with the money she's accused of stealing from the parish.