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Two suspects in a case involving allegations of stealing from Fourth
Street Missionary Baptist Church appeared before Superior Court Judge
Frank Jordan on Monday.
Nikiena Bowden, who remains in jail, is a
former bookkeeper at the church. Lalinriafaye Wilson, who’s free on
bond, did not work at the church but is friends with Bowden.
The
state said Bowden began taking the money after she was hired at the
church in 2003. Neither is a church member.
Assistant District
Attorney David Helmick said Bowden gave some of the money to Wilson, who
allegedly cashed the church checks for herself and her husband’s church.
The discovery of missing checks from the church was in 2005. About
$450,000 is missing, according to prosecutors. The church’s pastor, the
Rev. J.H. Flakes Jr., testified that checks written to Bowden and Wilson
were not authorized.
Wilson’s attorney, Frank Martin, told the
Ledger-Enquirer on Monday that the court appearance was a pre-trial
hearing on a motion to bar evidence. The defense argues that due to
certain exceptions, a person can’t be prosecuted because of the statute
of limitations, which in this case is more than four years.
As of
Tuesday, no date had been set to resume the pre-trial motion hearing.
Bowden’s attorney is Bobby Jones. He and Martin will meet with Jordan to
set another date.
The women were indicted last year. Bowden has
been in the Muscogee County Jail since last summer.
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223 Twelfth Street