Couple charged with stealing over $1M from church to pay for vacations, personal expenses

A Pennsylvania couple is accused of stealing more than $1 million dollars over the course of several years from a local church to pay for vacations, tickets to sporting events and personal expenses.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports David Reiter, a former administrator for the Westminster Presbyterian Church was arrested Tuesday on charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, forgery and other offenses. His wife Connie Reiter was arrested as well and faces two counts of receiving stolen property.

{mosads}The Allegheny District Attorney’s Office alleges Reiter stole roughly $1.2 million dollars during his tenure and used the money for everything from groceries and vehicle repairs to family vacations and tickets to baseball games.

As administrator of the church since 2001, Reiter was responsible for handing the finances.

The church treasurer uncovered the years-long scheme when he found out Reiter lied about having an auditor, according to a criminal complaint.

The treasurer told the church’s pastor, Rev. Jim Gilchrist, about his suspicions, who then told Reiter he “needed to resign.”

“Mr. Reiter was a widely trusted, active member of the church, who served as the business administrator for 17 years, and he engaged in sophisticated forms of deception to hide his theft,” the church said in a statement to the news outlet.

Reiter is being held on a $50,000 bond and his wife was released after posting a portion of her bond. The two are due in court for a preliminary hearing Feb. 28.