(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — A former employee of Pikes Peak Christian Church has accepted a plea deal for Identity Theft, after she turned herself in to law enforcement in May on close to 900 charges of financial crimes.

According to court documents, the majority of charges against Sara Ann Mock-Butler were dismissed, after she agreed to plead guilty to Identity Theft and pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars in restitution. She will also serve four years unsupervised probation, and 100 hours of community service. The plea agreement was reached at a hearing on Oct. 10.

According to the original arrest documents, Butler was employed with Pikes Peak Christian Church from 2017 to 2022 as its financial director. In that position, Butler had “sole responsibility for the church’s financial accounts without oversight.”

The arrest affidavit alleged that Butler used almost $350,000 of the church’s money for her own personal benefit, including the purchase of a boat, truck, family vacations, and even lingerie and adult toys, as well as paying off personal and family debts.

According to the affidavit, Butler’s crimes were discovered after a new pastor took over duties at the church and requested a financial board to approve expenses, and Butler then resigned in May of 2022. She stayed on to train her replacement for a time, and her replacement and the pastor ultimately discovered the financial discrepancies nearing a $200,000 deficit, which the pastor said led to the church being forced to “make decisions about laying off employees and cutting specific ministries.”

Butler’s arrest warrant was issued on 896 counts of financial crimes, including one count of Theft, one count of Cyber Crime, 296 counts of Money Laundering, 527 counts of Identity Theft, 61 counts of Forgery, six counts of Tax Evasion, and five counts of Filing a False Tax Return.

Butler ultimately entered a guilty plea to only one count of Identity Theft, with the conditions of her plea agreement to include her deferred sentence and restitution.