Mobile real estate agent charged with taking money from church

MOBILE, Al.
A Mobile real estate agent surrendered to authorities after she was charged with taking more than $47,000 from a local church, Cpl. Christopher Levy, police spokesman, said Tuesday.

Evelyn W. Mace

Evelyn W. Mace, 59, of Mobile, was charged with first-degree theft by deception involving money at the church where she was hired as a bookkeeper.
“They came and made a complaint after they found out that she had been stealing money from them,” Levy said.
Mace allegedly used the money to pay personal utility bills, to spend at the casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and to have personal landscaping done, Levy said.
Mace, who was associated with Prudential Cooper & Co. Inc. Realtors, was not available for comment on Tuesday.
The First Independent Methodist Church in the 4500 block of Halls Mill Road hired Mace as its bookkeeper in 2009, Levy said.
The detectives were able to determine that the money had been taken between January 2009 and October this year, Levy said.
“They trusted her a lot and just authorized the use of blank checks and the use of an ATM card,” he said.
Church officials were not available for comment Tuesday. Mace was booked into Mobile County Metro Jail about 3:30 p.m. Monday and was released less than an hour later with bail set at $7,500, according to jail records. She was scheduled for a Dec. 5 court appearance, records showed.