NY pastor charged with embezzling $400K from bank; police say church funds not involved

Police say a pastor at an upstate New York church embezzled more than $400,000 from the credit union where he worked.




Jason LaPierre, pastor at River Church in Kingsbury is charged with writing himself hundreds of personal checks over four years while working at the Hudson River Community Credit Union in Corinth, 40 miles north of Albany.



LaPierre was a human resources and marketing executive at the bank. The thefts were discovered last year and he was fired in December.



Police believe at least $406,000 was taken.



LaPierre was arraigned Wednesday on charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records. Phones for LaPierre and the church were out of service Thursday.



A bank officer says the funds were insured against theft.