Go Through A Divorce, Embezzle $570,000 From Your Church

Let's head down to Jacksonville for a solid little (sordid little?) tale.

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Melissa English, who lived north of Jacksonville, was seemingly born Melissa Ganey, and for a long portion of her adulthood she was Melissa Rhoden. I believe the guy in the photo above is Richard Rhoden, and those are their kids, although I am not positive if all three kids are biologically those two parents. Probably, though.

Sometime around June of 2019, per Florida court records, it seems as if Melissa Rhoden initiated a divorce from Richard. Those divorce proceedings lasted from 2019 to 2023. Seemed contentious.

Well, around the same time (2019), Melissa — whose day job was as a financial director for Amelia Baptist Church — apparently began embezzling money from said church. She spent that money on Carnival Cruises, paying off her own credit card debt, lots of Amazon, and even a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.

Apparently no one else, I.e. the senior pastor, at Amelia Baptist Church was looking at the receipts — because Melissa got away with this for five years, actually embezzling more money each year, including going over $120,000 in 2024, which was her first full post-divorce-is-now-clear year.

All-in, she embezzled about $570,000 from a church in a relatively small county. Back in April, she got arrested while at her friend’s house: