On March 25, Bensalem Police were contacted by the president of the Bensalem Education Support Professional Association, who reported a theft of approximately $25,000 from association funds.
The association member discovered the missing funds after several checks were returned and stamped as “account closed.” The BESPA president went to the bank to review the account and found numerous unauthorized withdrawals. She also found that the account had been closed since June 15, 2022, with a negative balance of $842. Someone had opened four other accounts in the association’s name at various banks in the area, and they all had negative balances.
When the treasurer of the association, Melissa Montney, was asked about the accounts and discrepancies, she immediately resigned from her position as treasurer. Montney provided a box of bank records that showed extremely poor record keeping with no accounting of deposits of expenses along with undeposited dues checks.
A Bensalem Township Police Detective began his investigation into the missing funds. After obtaining bank records from all of the banks, the detective conducted an accounting of all of the deposits and withdrawals from the BESPA accounts.
His investigation revealed that Montney had embezzled $28,802.18 from the BESPA between November 2018 and June 2022. Monies from the BESPA accounts were used by Montney to make ATM withdrawals, Atlantic City withdrawals, Venmo payments to herself and purchases from Amazon, Friendly’s, Old Navy, QVC, Starbucks, Target, Acme, DoorDash, Best Buy and at least 58 other businesses.
On May 1, Montney turned herself in at the Bensalem Township Police Department on charges of Access Device Fraud, Theft by Unlawful Taking and Receiving Stolen Property. She was arraigned by District Justice Falcone and released after family members posted 10 percent of $25,000 bail.
