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Melissa Ann Montney, the 49-year-old former treasurer of the Bensalem Education Support Professional Association (BESPA), is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, and access device fraud — all felonies — said Bensalem police in a release on Monday, May 1.
Investigators were first contacted by BESPA officials on March 25, when the Association president found that a BESPA bank account had unexpectedly closed, the department said.
The association president called police after finding "numerous unauthorized withdrawals" left the account with a negative balance of $842, authorities said. She also found that new accounts in BESPA's name had been set up at "various banks in the area," each of which was overdrawn, police added.
When asked about the bookkeeping "discrepancies," Montney turned over a box of bank records and immediately resigned, BPD wrote.
Investigators who pored over the records say they found evidence that Montney embezzled $28,802.18 in BESPA funds between 2018 and 2022. The money, detectives claim, went toward personal expenditures at "Amazon, Friendly’s, Old Navy, QVC, Starbucks, Target, Acme, Wawa, Door Dash, Best Buy, and at least 58 other businesses."
Montney surrendered to police on Monday and was released on 10 percent of her $25,000 bail, Bensalem authorities said. Court records show the 49-year-old is due back for her preliminary hearing on May 10.
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