Woman stole $19,475 from Kenner church that paid her light bill, police say

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune ^ | 7/20/16 | Michelle Hunter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

[BBell]

A woman who came to a Kenner church for help with a delinquent utility bill is now accused of stealing more than $19,000 from the church's coffers to pay for a car, her insurance, cable and other bills, according to authorities.

Shareafa Watkins, 27, of 3100 Phoenix St., Kenner, was arrested and booked Friday with identity theft valued over $1,000, illegal transfer of monetary funds and being a fugitive from another jurisdiction, according to Lt. Brian McGregor, spokesman for the Kenner Police Department.

-snip-

Detectives eventually determined that Watkins began illegally tapping the church's bank account in early 2015 after she received help paying a late Entergy bill, according to an arrest report. The church gave Watkins a check made out to the power company.

But Watkins took down the account and routing numbers from the check, and then used the information to pay other bills to the tune of about $19,475, an arrest report said. Those accounts included:

Sprint cellphone account: $3,253

Cox Cable: $1,135

Jefferson Parish Department of Water: $489

Entergy: $2,139

State Farm: $4,967

All State Insurance Company: $311

Santander Consumer USA (car payment): $7,181

[Kartographer]

Lightricity is an urban word Human Right.

[Rufus Shinra]

Lol! Literally I laughed out loud because as soon as I read the first sentence of this article, a single thought entered my mind. I read a bit deeper and saw the name, and my thought was true...Unfortunately. And apparently I wasn’t the only person with this thoght.

[TexasRepublic]

I am shocked! I thought Shareafa was an Irish name.