Former business manager at Anchorage Catholic parish pleads guilty to embezzlement

A former business manager at a South Anchorage Catholic parish this week pleaded guilty to charges she stole more than $100,000 from the parish church and school, including collections taken during Mass.

Nicole Lewis entered a guilty plea to felony theft Monday in Anchorage Superior Court, where Judge Andrew Peterson ordered her to pay nearly $105,000 in restitution to her former employer, according to prosecutor Connor Campbell.

Lewis, 41, served as business manager for Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish on East Huffman Road for just over a year until her termination in June 2023, according to a sworn affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant by Anchorage police Detective Bart Filipowicz.

Parish representatives did not return a message left at the church on Tuesday. The attorney representing Lewis did not return a call for comment.

Father Scott Medlock, pastor at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, said in an email to parishioners and school families Tuesday that the parish staff and community “are greatly saddened at this betrayal by someone we trusted.”

The parish reported Lewis to police in June 2023, saying she failed to deposit money gathered by the church and school and also used parish credit cards for unauthorized and personal purchases, according to the affidavit. State law officials say those purchases included personal food delivery, plane tickets, furniture and lingerie.

During the course of last year’s investigation, several people told the detective that cash gathered “from the church (M)ass and other events was counted and documented” but Lewis did not deposit the money in the parish bank account, Filipowicz wrote.

She also borrowed credit cards issued to four other church employees and made unauthorized payments, the affidavit said.

The detective calculated the total loss to the parish at just over $124,500, which included just over $42,400 in missing cash bank deposits and nearly $32,000 in missing school cash deposits, according to the affidavit. The unauthorized credit card purchases totaled just over $50,100, it said.

The parish and school were “fully insured” and losses associated with Lewis have been covered, Medlock said in Tuesday’s email, adding that security and money-handling policies have been revamped.

“The ripple effect of this deception is a profound hurt from which we continue to heal, and we are grateful for the diligent actions of all those who worked so hard to bring this crime to justice,” the email said.

Judge Peterson on Monday sentenced Lewis to 24 months in prison, 20 of them suspended, as well as five years of probation. Campbell said she’s expected to serve house arrest with electronic monitoring.

He said the theft of money from church Masses made this case stand out from other white-collar crimes he’s prosecuted.

“People have been shocked at the idea that a church employee would steal … from collection baskets over the course of a year,” Campbell said Tuesday.