Corie M. Boyer, a former secretary and bookkeeper at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in De Soto, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison after admitting to embezzling more than $580,000 from the church, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
Boyer, 50, of the Jefferson County portion of Fenton, also has been ordered to repay $581,337. She was sentenced on March 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, according to court records.
She pleaded guilty in October to two counts of wire fraud, admitting to stealing funds from the parish from January 2017 through March 2024.
According to the guilty plea, when Boyer worked at the church, she was responsible for maintaining the St. Rose of Lima Parish’s books and records, organizing certain parish fundraisers and helping to collect and count the weekly offertory.
She used the church’s bank accounts and credit cards to make payments on her personal credit cards. She also used the church’s funds and credit cards to pay for airfare for herself and relatives; cruises; college tuition; shopping; taxes; rent and gambling at casinos, the guilty plea said.
She wrote checks to herself and stole cash from the offertory and covered up the thefts by falsifying church financial records, according to the guilty plea.
In a message to St. Rose of Lima parishioners on June 23, 2024, Pastor Rodger Fleming announced the church had fired Boyer after an “extensive investigation into suspected financial impropriety.”
Fleming said shortly after he was assigned to the church in August 2023, he noticed irregularities and reported his concerns to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and an internal investigation was launched.
“Corie Boyer betrayed her parish when she abused her position of trust for personal gain,” William Steenson, IRS-Criminal Investigation St. Louis special agent in charge, said in a statement. “She stole funds from the church, spent the money on herself and others, and took steps to cover up the theft. IRS-CI remains deeply committed to investigating such abuses of trust and will work with our law enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue justice on behalf of the victims.”
The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.