Chanell Easton, 38, from Oklahoma City, was handed down a sentence of over five years in prison by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez for orchestrating a fraud and identity theft operation while she served as an administrator of a Sutter County church, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Easton, who pled guilty to 22 counts of wire fraud in October last year, was found guilty on two counts of aggravated identity theft after a March bench trial.
In a scheme that ran from 2013 to 2018, Easton abused her role at a Yuba City church, pilfering in excess of $360,000 which included funds from its food pantry and youth ministry. Court documents revealed that Easton used church credit cards for personal items including salon visits, vacation rentals and concert tickets, and concealed these expenditures using the church's resources. The case took a serious turn when Easton misused one of the church credit cards, belonging to the youth minister, to make unauthorized purchases on Zappos.com, which effectively cast suspicion away from her actions.
Further investigation uncovered that Easton also directed money from the church's bank accounts to her own, covered her personal credit card bills, and paid for her cellphone services and new phones using church funds. The theft extended to Easton writing checks for personal use, some of which involved forged signatures from the church's treasurer or the food pantry's head volunteer. A restitution hearing for Easton is scheduled for November 19.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation leading to the conviction of Easton, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Wong in charge of the prosecution.
