BREAKING NEWS: Owatonna church hit with major embezzlement

An Ellendale woman accused of embezzling more than $350,000 from an Owatonna church has told authorities there was an issue with the bookkeeping software – but has been unable to provide documents to prove it.

Vanessa Ann Stoltz, 40, was charged by summons last week in Steele County District Court with one count each of theft by swindle and theft-no consent, both felonies.

She is expected to make her first appearance July 20.

Stoltz was hired to serve as the financial coordinator for Associated Church, working part-time and earning about $20 an hour; she was in charge of payroll, which involved access to the church’s QuickBooks account.

Church officials told detectives that when the board periodically asked Stoltz about their financial picture, she would “only provide small bits of information and not a complete summary,” promising – but failing – to get them the data they requested.

In late summer of 2025, the IRS informed church leaders they had not paid payroll taxes; when they questioned Stoltz, “they did not receive a clear answer” about the issue.

The last contact the church had with Stoltz was in November; it remained “locked” out of QuickBooks, so sought help from a local accounting firm – which was able to access the church’s account.

According to the criminal complaint, the bookkeeping records showed Stoltz had grossed nearly $450,000 in 2024 and 2025 – $350,000 more than her expected salary for that time. Church leaders contacted law enforcement.

In December, a detective spoke with Stoltz, who confirmed she was the financial manager for the church, working part-time.

She told the detective she was aware of a problem with QuickBooks, claiming something happened when the church moved from “desktop to online,” and that she brought the issue to the attention of church leaders.

The church had provided her with a laptop computer so she could work from home.

Stoltz denied receiving any extra/over payments, the document says, and told the detective she was “broke.”

The complaint further outlines that the accounting firm found that Stoltz was the only employee to be overpaid; the funds were direct-deposited into a local bank, aligning with the payroll schedule on QuickBooks.

The funds were spent down each month on items such as Amazon payments, credit cards, clothing and food delivery services, liposuction and body-contouring treatments and more.

A search warrant of Stoltz’s bank account did not reveal any type of reimbursement to the church, the report says.

During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that four checks were written to Stoltz and signed by a church leader; the leader told law enforcement none of the signatures were hers.

The checks – totaling nearly $7,000 – were allegedly deposited into Stoltz’s bank account.

When the detective spoke to Stoltz again in February, she again confirmed her wage, hours and responsibilities, including processing payroll for the church over the past two years.

According to court documents, Stoltz again mentioned the issues with QuickBooks, saying it “could show she was being paid essentially double,” but there would also be a refund noted.

She reportedly said the excess payments were never deposited into her bank accounts, and agreed to provide investigators with copies of her bank statements to prove it.

Stoltz made arrangements to send the statements to the detective; as of Feb. 10, he had not received correspondence of any kind from her.

Associated is a community of faith of the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ located on Owatonna’s south end.