NJ bookkeeper admits to stealing nearly $293,000 from local churches

🔹 NJ woman stole from 2 churches
🔹 Wrote checks over 6 years
🔹 Must pay back $293K

A 60-year-old Passaic County woman has admitted to stealing roughly $293,000 from two different Catholic churches in Morris County, while she worked for them as a bookkeeper.

Melissa Rivera, of the Haskell area, was arrested in March.

On May 19, Rivera pleaded guilty in Superior Court to two counts of third-degree theft.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit launched an investigation after being alerted to the theft of at least $192,000 from Our Lady of Mountain Parish in Washington Township.

Investigation into parish thefts

Officers found that between May 2018 and May 2024, Rivera wrote 137 checks from accounts at the first church totaling $287,487.

She also wrote three checks to herself from Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Pompton Plains, for a total of $5,242.

The collective loss was $292,728.

Read More: Woman admits scamming $350K from work at NJ synagogue

Rivera must pay back the full amount stolen from the two victim parishes, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said.

Prosecutors have agreed to recommend 364 days in Morris County jail, as a condition of probation.

She was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.

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