Pastor, wife accused of taking $53K
UPDATED OCT. 11, 2023: The charges listed against Jeffrey Dean Lang and Kimberley Elaine Lang in this article were dismissed and expunged on January 11, 2022.
Felony arrest warrants have been issued for a former Butler County pastor and his wife who are both charged in connection with the alleged theft of more than $53,000 from a West Sunbury church.
Jeffrey Dean Lang, 46, of Glendale, Ohio, allegedly received in excess of $33,000 in unauthorized salary compensation while employed at the West Sunbury Presbyterian Church.
He and Kimberley Elaine Lang, 48, also are accused of using the church bank account “for their family's own personal benefit and not the benefit of the church,” according to state police investigators.
Police said that between 2017 and 2018 the unauthorized purchases were made using church-issued debit cards for items and services, such as groceries, gasoline, travel costs, car repairs and eye care.
Additionally, payments were made to the University of Dubuque, a private Presbyterian university in Dubuque, Iowa, where Jeffrey Lang was enrolled.
The charges followed a 2019 forensic audit of church financial records between 2016 and 2018. According to authorities, the audit was prompted when the church executive board discovered a “considerable amount of money” missing from the church bank account.
Jeffrey Lang was employed as the reverend at the church from March 2012 to October 2018, investigators said. During his employment, Jeffrey Lang's “term of call,” or employment contract, included an annual salary and reimbursed expenses.
Among the allowable reimbursed expenses were those for medical-related purchases and car and education expenditures.
“The audit determined that Jeffrey Lang did receive over $33,998 in excess of his allowable compensation,” charging documents reveal.
The exceeded funds, police said, were paid by checks, which he then deposited into his bank account.
“(He) received these checks when he would request his payroll check from a (church) check signer,” documents said.
According to investigators, the audit further uncovered alleged misappropriated funds totaling $19,936.32.
“(Jeffrey) Lang was not to go over this allowed reimbursed compensation,” according to the police report, “making it his responsibility to keep (a) record of his spending.”
Jeffrey Lang abruptly resigned from the church in October 2018, investigators said.
Police noted that during their investigation they made “multiple attempts to contact the defendants,” but to no avail.
The Langs, who have three children, are both charged with a felony count of theft by unlawful taking. Jeffrey Lang also is charged with a felony count of theft by deception. Arrest warrants were issued Tuesday.
The couple's attorney, Adam Bishop of Pittsburgh, declined to comment on the allegations.
Before his installation as pastor of the West Sunbury Presbyterian Church, Jeffrey Lang served pastorates in Virginia, South Carolina, New York and West Virginia.
He attended seminary at Erskine in Due West, S.C., and was ordained in 1999 at the Ballston Center A.R. Presbyterian Church in Ballston Spa, N.Y.
A telephone call to the West Sunbury church was not immediately returned Thursday.
Police said Jeffrey Lang is currently a pastor of a church in Ohio. An internet search revealed Lang is with First Presbyterian Church in Glendale, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati. A message left there for both Lang and a member of the church's board of directors was not returned Thursday.
