Eight people have been arrested after authorities say they stole checks mailed by church parishioners and deposited them into their own bank accounts.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Unit began a large-scale check fraud investigation in December 2025 after a pastor at Harvest United Methodist Church in Lakewood Ranch reported a significant decrease in mail received by the church.
Parishioners had begun questioning whether their monthly tithe checks had arrived. Investigators later discovered the checks had been stolen and deposited into suspects’ bank accounts…