Amelia Baptist Church in Fernandina Beach. | Google
Published on April 10, 2025 at 2:55 pm
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A former church financial secretary in Nassau County is accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church for concerts, cruises, hotels and more.
Melissa Ganey English, 44, was arrested in Baker County on grand theft charges. She also is charged with using Amelia Baptist Church’s credit card for personal expenses totaling over $500,000, the Sheriff’s Office said.
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A Sheriff’s Office investigation shows that more than $570,000 was embezzled from the church in Fernandina Beach, where English had been the financial secretary from 2019 to 2024. That includes almost $40,000 embezzled in 2019, then close to $90,000 the next year through unauthorized charges, personal credit card payments and additional payments to herself, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Investigators then uncovered more than $100,000 in church funds spent in 2021 on Amazon purchases, SeaWorld tickets, hotel stays, even a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. Between 2022 and 2024, $338,000 more in embezzled church funds were spent on cruise lines, Airbnb rentals, concert tickets, hotels and personal expenses, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“This is a significant breach of trust that has deeply impacted the church community,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said in a news release. “The suspect abused her position of trust for years, using church funds meant for ministry and community service to instead fund her personal lifestyle.”
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The Sheriff’s Office said church officials found evidence of financial irregularities in October, and English admitted to wrongdoing and was fired.
Investigators then found that much more money had been taken and used for personal credit card payments, hotel stays, airlines and more, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The church’s pastor, the Rev. Forrest Jones, said the last few months have been “incredibly hurtful and difficult” for the church. It would have been easy to become distracted from the church’s main mission, he said in a statement.
“While events such as this could cause us either to feel despair or have a sense of superiority, the Bible is clear that we all have a sinful nature and thus we must approach this with humility: because apart from Christ we are all capable of much worse (Matthew 15:19),” the statement said.
A warrant was issued for English’s arrest March 25, then the Sheriff’s Office issued a social media alert seeking help in finding her on Wednesday. That led to a tip that she was in Baker County, where she was arrested, investigators said.
English will remain jailed in Baker County until her extradition back to Nassau County, officials say.
