Anita spent eight years working for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Co-workers praised her dedication and hard work, and her volunteer work with the Catholic church was mentioned by local papers. She went to church every day and prayed often, so no one thought there was reason to question or scrutinize her work in the accounts payable department at the church.

In December, however, the church's annual audit raised red flags. Anita was questioned about the missing money and fired shortly thereafter. She is now facing charges for embezzling more than $1 million during her seven years of working for the archdiocese.

According to prosecutors, Anita did not use the money to support a lavish lifestyle. Anita lived in a three-bedroom apartment, though she appeared to have a weakness for expensive collector's dolls. When detectives were searching her house, they collected about 18 boxes filled with expensive dolls, and three other boxes containing teddy bears.

When Anita was hired by the archdiocese in June 2003, the church did not perform background checks on employees. If the church had performed a background check, they may have realized that Anita had recently been convicted of grand larceny in one case and had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in another case.

A spokesperson for the archdiocese said the church had been struggling financially for some time. He noted that the church had been closing schools and churches because there was not enough money to keep them open, and the church routinely asked for more than $15 million at its annual charity.

Although the $1 million that Anita allegedly embezzled is more than pocket change, it certainly does not account for the $15 million the church needs.

Prosecutors believe that Anita routinely wrote checks to one of her sons, and after the checks were printed, she changed the internal records to show that the checks had been written to legitimate vendors. In total, prosecutors believe Anita wrote about 470 checks, keeping each check at amounts less than $2,500.

Anita was charged with first-degree larceny and falsifying business records. If she is convicted, she could face a maximum of 25 years in prison on the grand larceny charge.

Source: The New York Times, "In Million-Dollar Theft Case, Church Worker With A Secret Past," Sharon Otterman and Russ Buettner, Jan. 30, 2012