LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) A court case in Louisville was halted after a Louisville Archdiocese accountant took her own life on July 6.

The accountant, Lisa Roth, was about to be indicted for allegedly stealing half a million dollars from three parishes.

The Fayette County Coroner’s office in Lexington confirmed that Roth, 60, had committed suicide, the week she was supposed to be audited.

Archdiocesan officials said that there are specific policies in place for handling church funds, and they are using this case as a wakeup call.

“We have very clear written procedures about how money is – cash or no cash gifts are treated, everything from how it is counted, recorded and deposited,” Archdiocese Chancellor Dr. Brian Reynolds told Wave 3 reporter.

Roth had been a trusted accountant for several Catholic churches for almost 20 years.

The Holy Spirit church sent a letter to its parishioners detailing the police investigation just a little over a month after her death. More than $500,000 was missing from three churches.

Roth quit her position right before an audit was about to occur, but the Secret Service said that she had made checks out to herself, forged signatures and used the parish’s credit cards. This was all to pay for her personal, daily living expenses.

“The Archdiocese audits every church on a cycle about every three years,” Reynolds told reporters. “We also will audit a church at the request of a pastor. Sometimes a new pastor will come in and say we aren’t due this year, but I would like a fresh audit. And sometimes if there is a concern that something happened, we will do an audit randomly just to check things.”

Reynolds has also said that every church is required to produce an annual report of its income and expenses.

“The biggest challenge we have when the person doing the finances is the one who is engaged in the fraudulent activity,” said Reynolds.

According to Reynolds, this case has prompted the Archdiocese to take a look at all policies, especially how they track electronic transfers.

“The same person (who signs the checkbook) shouldn’t be approving expenditures,” Reynolds said. “It’s called cross control and cross training. In big parishes that’s easier to do. In smaller parishes, that’s harder to do, and that’s what we are working on now. Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The Archdiocese believes that Roth’s husband of 27 years and her children were unaware of the alleged thefts.

Click here to read the source article from Wave 3 News.