A Virginia Beach church bookkeeper has been sentenced to five years imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution after being convicted of theft.
On 25 Oct 2023 the Virginia Commonwealth Court sentenced Andrew Patrick Landsperger (46) to ten years imprisonment, with five years suspended from the sentence for stealing over $175,000 from Galilee Episcopal Church.
A statement from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office said that from January to August 2022 Landsberger charged $34,653.72 to church credit cards, and altered the church’s payroll system to add $134,839.52 to his salary. Landsperger stole cash deposits from the offering plate. Prior to Landsperger taking charge of collections, the church received an average of $450 a week in cash donations. After he began depositing the collections, this number dropped to under $200 per week. After Landsperger was fired, the donation levels immediately returned to the levels the church observed prior to Landsperger’s handling of the money. The estimated loss of donations was estimated to be approximately $7,000.
Landsperger’s credit card fraud was discovered in August 2022, and he was fired. In total the church’s estimated loss was $176,536. After its insurance policy and reimbursement from its credit card company, the church recovered $112,324. The outstanding total loss is approximately $64,199.
Landsperger was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $64,199 to Galilee Episcopal Church and $100,000 to the church’s insurance company.
