The former secretary of Leonard Street Baptist Church was arrested Wednesday night on a felony warrant for allegedly embezzling more than $140,000 from the church.
James Robert Martin, 68, of Hot Springs Village, was taken into custody around 8 p.m. and charged with theft of property more than $2,500, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Martin, who lists an address of 6 Lesdesma Way, was later released on $5,000 bond and is set to appear July 18 in Garland County District Court. He had been featured as a "Most Wanted" suspect on the Hot Springs Police Facebook page on Wednesday.
"We're just saddened by the situation," the Rev. Jimmy Holland, pastor of Leonard Street, said Thursday.
"It was a violation of trust that took everyone by surprise, but the church has done very well. We've rebounded in full," he said, noting, "We reached out multiple times to the Martin family, but as yet they have not reciprocated."
He said they turned over all the church records and the findings of a recent audit to the police and "we're letting them do their work at this point." He asked for the community "to keep the Martins and Leonard Street Baptist Church in your prayers."
According to the affidavit, on Aug. 22, 2016, Holland filed a complaint with police alleging theft. He stated he and other church staff had recently discovered several discrepancies in the church's finances that had occurred over the past several years.
He stated the former secretary, identified as Martin, wrote several checks from the church's bank account between Jan. 1, 2014, and Aug. 8, 2016, totaling $64,315.34 in unaccounted funds. Holland noted Martin did have permission to write checks, but had not provided any invoices or receipts for the checks written and he had resigned as secretary prior to the complaint being filed.
The church hired an accounting firm, Jordan, Woosley, Crone and Keaton, to prepare an independent accounting report for the discrepancies in the finances between Jan. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2016. Their findings reportedly concluded that between those dates, Martin successfully completed $140,155.49 in unauthorized disbursements, withdrawals and charges on the church's account.
After reviewing the report from the accounting firm and other evidence, a warrant was issued in the case.
Local on 07/07/2017