Church treasurer gets jail after more than $40,000 missing

ST. JOSEPH (AP) — A church treasurer in southwestern Michigan has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after more than $40,000 in church funds was reported missing.

The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reports that Cecily Cogswell-Finehout, 34,  of Benton Harbor also was ordered last month to pay $42,055 in restitution for embezzling from the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Coloma, where she was treasurer for two years.

Some checks from church members were cashed but no records kept that they were received. Cogswell-Finehout told authorities she had been writing unauthorized checks to herself from the church's bank account.

She says she used the money to help pay her bills.