SANFORD — Three former employees are accused of embezzling nearly $350,000 from a Lee County church.

State Bureau of Investigation agents arrested 49-year-old Elizabeth Yandle Perrell of Sanford and 51-year-old Sherri Kelly Reynolds of Sanford on Thursday. Bradley William Simon, 54, of Clover, South Carolina, was charged in the case Aug. 12.

The three suspects are accused of stealing from Grace Chapel Church on U.S. 1/Jefferson Davis Highway south of Sanford. Perrell was a church secretary, Reynolds was the finance manager and Simon was an assistant to the church’s chief financial officer, according to the SBI.

Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Shannon O’Toole, a spokesman for the SBI, said Perrell embezzled $43,336.83 by making unauthorized personal charges to a credit card assigned to her by the church that was intended to be used for official business. The charges were made from December 2006 through November 2008.

Reynolds is accused of racking up $133,370.34 in unauthorized charges to two church-issued credit cards from December 2006 through April 2012.

Investigators say Simon drained $105,456.17 from the church’s bank account through a series of unauthorized withdrawals from March through August of 2013 and wrote $64,969.75 in unauthorized checks drawn on Grace Chapel’s account from February through September 2013.

Each suspect was charged with one felony count of embezzlement by a local or charitable officer or employee.

Perrell and Reynolds were each held on a $5,000 secured bond before their release Thursday, O’Toole said. Simon received a $200,000 bond when he was arrested in August.

Perrell
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Perrell-mug.jpgPerrell

Reynolds
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Reynolds-mug.jpgReynolds

Simon
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Simon-mug.jpgSimon

Staff reports