Local News
West Salem woman sentenced for massive church fraud
Spent stolen cash at casinos.
A former accounting clerk at a church in Onalaska has been sentenced in federal court to four years behind bars for stealing from her own congregation.
Fifty-nine-year-old Barbara Snyder, of West Salem, was accused of stealing more than $832,000 from St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church.
She was responsible for depositing church collections and maintaining accounting records between 2006 and 2015.
Federal prosecutors said she devised a scheme to make deposits that were short of collections and throw away the paperwork that kept track of those collections.
Investigators said she used the money to gamble at casinos.
Snyder pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and falsifying tax returns and had faced more than 20 years in prison and massive fines.
Snyder has been ordered to pay about $832,000 in restitution.