Woman arrested for allegedly embezzling over $400K from church charged with tax evasion

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Tuesday, March 17, 2026

A woman who was recently arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $400,000 from a South Carolina church where she formerly worked has been charged with tax evasion.

Shelley C. Strickland, a 55-year-old resident of Greenwood, was arrested Monday by agents of the South Carolina Department of Revenue and charged with seven counts of tax evasion.

According to an SCDOR press release, Strickland had allegedly embezzled approximately $445,000 from First Baptist Church of Ware Shoals when she was employed there from 2018-2024.

“Strickland did not include that money as income on her South Carolina individual income tax returns for those years,” according to the department. “As a result, she evaded at least $29,626 in state income tax.”

“The SCDOR is committed to the fair administration of tax laws. By taking enforcement action against noncompliant taxpayers, the Department seeks to prevent unfairly increasing the tax burden on those who do comply.”

If convicted, Strickland faces the possibility of serving a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or being fined $10,000 for each count that she is found guilty of.

Strickland served as financial secretary for FBC Ware Shoals from 2018 through 2024, while also serving in a similar capacity for other local churches and the Lakelands Baptist Association (LBA).

In August 2024, Strickland was arrested by Greenwood County authorities, facing accusations that she stole over $400,000 from FBC Ware Shoals and around $58,000 from the LBA. 

LBA Missions Director David Little told the South Carolina-based publication The Baptist Courier at the time that Strickland had been fired for misappropriating funds.

“[Shelley’s husband is] a pastor of one of our churches, so we were surprised and disappointed,” Little said in 2024. “When you steal from a church, it’s bad. But when you steal from an association, you steal from all the churches in that association, and that’s really hard to swallow.”

“People make bad choices, and those choices affect a lot of good people. … We will pray for this family, but she has brought a lot of pain on a lot of people and churches and her own family. It’s just sad.”

Strickland’s husband was not implicated in her crimes, The Roys Report reported at the time. If convicted of the embezzlement, she could face up to a decade in prison.