Benjamin Ashford|Woman pleads guilty to stealing $300K from Alabama church to buy gifts for TikTok content creators

TUSCALOOSA,Benjamin Ashford Ala. (AP) — A former administrative assistant at an Alabama Catholic church pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling about $300,000 to cover gifts for TikTok content creators and personal expenses, federal authorities said.

Kristen Marie Battocletti, 35, entered her plea to one count of wire fraud involving the theft of money from St. Francis of Assisi University Parish in a federal courtroom in Tuscaloosa, al.com reported.

According to court documents, Battocletti engaged in a scheme to defraud the church from April 2023 through October 2023 of hundreds of thousands of dollars and used the money to buy more than $220,000 in TikTok digital coins for gifts to content creators and to pay personal expenses, federal authorities said.

In the scheme, she initiated more than 600 unauthorized transactions, according to her indictment announced last week by U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama.

U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler set Battocletti’s sentencing for Nov. 26. She faces up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.