A former administrator at First Baptist Spartanburg was charged with misappropriation of church funds for personal use, according to a complaint filed in federal court Monday.
David Dennis, the former administrator named in the four-page complaint, allegedly defrauded a total of $213,278 from the church between 2017 to 2022.
The complaint, signed by an assistant United States Attorney from Greenville, charges Dennis with wire fraud and says he deliberately schemed to defraud First Baptist Spartanburg.
Dennis used four different credit cards that belonged to First Baptist Spartanburg which he had access to for church use. In one transaction in January 2020, Dennis personally spent over $1,200 on barbeque from a restaurant and disguised it as a church expense.
According to a report from church watchdog website MinistryWatch, the church launched an investigation into the mishandling of funds in late June 2022.
First Baptist Spartanburg told churchgoers that an annual audit revealed “potential irregularities in the financial claims of our church administrator and weaknesses in our financial controls.”