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Melissa Zweil-Sanchez, Ronnie Sanchez (MUGSHOTS: Maywood PD)
Under an order finalized last week, prosecutors have agreed to hold off on criminal charges against Melissa Zweil-Sanchez if she meets the terms of the Pre-Trial Intervention program.
Those terms, worked out with court officials, includes repaying the Redeemer Christian Child Care Center of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer $2,000 before April 5, followed by 36 monthly installments of $300 each.
Once that is done, the charges will officially be dismissed and her criminal record expunged.
The church would then have to pursue the remaining amount through the civil courts, according to the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“We did not set the restitution amount. The court did,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Our condition was that restitution be made. How much and how frequently was set by court.”
If Zweil-Sanchez defaults on any payment, the case “gets returned to active status,” with a presentation to a grand jury for criminal charges, the agreement stipulates.
Authorities said Zweil-Sanchez wrote checks to herself and her husband, Ronnie Sanchez, for $59,105.77 before Pastor Susan-Nelson Colaneri notified police that an audit showed the money missing from the nursery account.
It was “a huge hit for a small church that does so much volunteer work,” a source with direct knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Police arrested the couple, who were released without bail. The matter was then referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office for grand jury action.
However, Zweil-Sanchez applied for and was accepted to the PTI program, the documents show. Charges against her husband were dropped.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT left a phone message for the church’s pastor,the Rev. Susan Nelson-Colaneri.
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