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A Dewey woman who was arrested in January for embezzlement at Open Heaven Church appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon. Deonne Bachmann was the church secretary and treasurer at Open Heaven when she fell for a fraudulent lottery scam and made multiple payments over the course of a month using church funds.

According to an affidavit, Bachmann thought that she had won the lottery and was instructed to make multiple payments so she could receive her winnings of 40 million dollars and two vehicles. Bachmann wrote six checks to herself noted for cash for the total amount of $10,100, and then tried to make a check payment to a third party in the amount of $6,500 but it was returned by the bank for insufficient funds.

Church staff was notified and confronted Brachmann about the missing money. She stated that she had won the lottery and was sending the money to the “lottery people” and that she had planned to share her money with the church, therefore she felt as if she did nothing wrong. Bachmann informed police that she had used the church funds to buy pre-paid debit cards to pay the scammers.

Bachmann also said she was informed by the “lottery people” that if she paid an additional $1,000, they would hand deliver her money as well as the two vehicles. When police told Brachmann she was being scammed, she responded by saying she had been told that by other people, but she truly believed they would deliver her winnings.  Her next court date is set for April 28^th and she is currently being held over on a $15,000 bond.