HARTFORD, Conn. — A Hartford city councilman has been arrested for allegedly embezzling money from the church he worked at through misusing the church's credit card.
Hartford police took a complaint in June of funds being embezzled from a local church. Police arrested Alexander Thomas, 27, of Hartford, on Tuesday; Thomas is a city councilmember and was an associate pastor and youth leader at South Church, according to his biography on the City of Hartford website and according to a May 17, 2024 snapshot of the South Church website from Wayback Machine.
Police allege that from April 2023 to April 2024, Thomas used the church credit card to send funds to a shell company and then to his personal account. He was employed at the church at the time of the thefts, police said. Thomas' term as city councilmember started Jan 1, 2024, and would otherwise come to an end December 2027, according to the city's website.
His biographies on the church and city websites also mentioned that Thomas was involved with the Hartford City Mission, Hartford Artists Collective and Wilson-Gray YMCA.
It is not clear how much money was taken from the church's credit card account and why Thomas allegedly misused the church credit card.
Thomas, a member of the Working Families Party, was elected to the Hartford Court of Common Council in November last year and has been in office since January. The WFP's website describes him as an associate pastor at South Church in Hartford.
According to his biography on the Working Families Party website, Thomas was born and raised in Hartford and has been active in city organizations.
Thomas was charged with money laundering and larceny and the bond was set to $250,000.
Thomas referred a request for comment to his attorney, Ronald Johnson. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from Johnson.
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