Ex-church secretary charged with theft

A former New Ellenton church secretary and the wife of a Blackville minister said "only part of the allegations are true" that she used church credit cards to buy clothes, jewelry and vacations totaling more than $75,000.

Michelle S. Mitchum, 41, of Solomon Platt Avenue in Blackville, is charged with grand larceny, more than $5,000.

Investigators with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office say the former Grace Covenant Church of God secretary established two credit card accounts in the church's name and used them to pay household bills and purchase clothing, jewelry and vacations from January 2006 until September 2008.

But Mitchum denies some of those claims.

She said she did not open the credit card accounts for her personal use and added that the total amount stolen does not amount to anywhere near $75,000.

According to the investigator's affidavit, she charged $76,976.57 to the cards, but on Sept. 8, during an interview with investigators, she would only admit to taking $22,883.

Mitchum said she is sorry for what she did and added that she never avoided the authorities after they contacted her about the accusations. She said she fully cooperated with investigators.

"I am repentant," she said. "The Lord knows what I am responsible for."

She surrendered to the authorities Monday and was let out on bond.

"There are two sides to every story," she said but would not go into details.

The pastor of Grace Covenant Church of God approached investigators in March with the accusations.

Mitchum was the church secretary and an office manager in charge of the book keeping.

She would not give specifics about what she spent money on, saying those details will come out in court.

She is the wife of the pastor at the Blackville Church of God.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com