Crime & Safety
2 Write Bad Checks to 2 Catholic Churches, Police Say
A Bethlehem pair is accused of using checks from closed accounts to buy $500 in gift cards.
By Jack Tobias
A man and a woman from Bethlehem are accused of buying $500 in gift cards from two area Catholic churches using personal checks from closed-out accounts, court records say.
Jonas Pierre, 36, and Luciana Maria Wellman, 37, both of 540 Barclay Drive, used the bad checks to buy $325 in gifts cards from Holy Family Catholic Church in Nazareth and $175 in gift cards from St. Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church in Palmer Township, the records say.
The pair are accused of buying the gift cards between July 17 and July 30.
Nazareth Patrolman Benjamin Rizzotto wrote in a criminal complaint that he was assigned to the case Aug. 1, went to Holy Family church, and learned Pierre and Wellman had bought the gift cards, which the church was selling for fundraising. He also discovered the pair had bought gift cards at St. Jane's.
After learning the checks came from two accounts that were "closed/charged off," Rizzotto issued a court order to obtain bank records from USAA Federal Savings Bank in San Antonio, Texas. One account was closed Feb. 14 and the other on March 13, he writes in the complaint.
He also says that Northampton County assistant district attorney James Augustine authorized that the charges—connected to churches in two different municipalities—should be consolidated into one case.
Pierre and Wellman each were charged with theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and bad checks.
They were arraigned Thursday night by on-duty District Judge Robert Hawke of Cherryville and committed to Northampton County Prison on $8,000 bail each.
Online court records show Wellman posted bail on Friday but Pierre had not yet posted bail.
The online records also show that Pierre pleaded guilty to bad checks charges from 2006 in Hanover Township (Northampton County). He also pleaded guilty to theft of services charges from 2008 in Easton, the records say.
Wellman, meanwhile, was charged in May of this year with theft of leased property in a Palmer Township case. The charges were held for county court action in July and a trial is scheduled for March 2014, the records say.
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