Former Sutter County Church Administrator Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Chanell Easton, 38, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to five years and one month in prison for a multi-year embezzlement scheme, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

In October 2023, Easton pleaded guilty to 22 counts of wire fraud, and on March 5, 2024, and following a bench trial, she was found guilty of on two counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 2013 to 2018, Easton worked as the church administrator at a church in Yuba City. During her employment, Easton stole over $360,000 from the church, including from its food pantry and youth ministry, during a years-long embezzlement scheme. Easton used credit cards associated with the church to make personal purchases - at a hair salon, retail stores, online retailers, a vacation rental service, and to buy VIP concert tickets - and then paid off the resulting balance with the church's money. One of the credit cards Easton used during her scheme belonged to the church's youth minister, and Easton used his identity to make thousands of dollars in unauthorized personal purchases on Zappos.com. Easton's use of the youth minister's identity allowed her to obscure her embezzlement and to shift suspicion away from herself, thereby allowing her fraudulent scheme to continue.

Easton also transferred money directly from the church's bank accounts to her own personal account, paid down the balance of her own personal credit card, and paid her cellphone provider for her personal bills and for new phones. Easton also stole money from the church by writing checks to others for personal expenses and by writing checks to herself, on which she forged the signatures of the church's treasurer or the head volunteer of the church's food pantry.

A hearing to determine restitution was set for Nov. 19, 2024.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Wong prosecuted the case.