A former administrative assistant at the St. Francis of Assisi University Parish in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is now facing a possible 20 years in prison after she plead guilty to stealing some $300,000 from her church and spending most of the money on gifts for TikTok content creators, leaving church officials baffled.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama announced one count of wire fraud against the 35-year-old assistant, Kristen Marie Battocletti, on Wednesday.
Battocletti, according to charging documents, embezzled the funds from the church from April to October 2023. She used more than $220,000 to purchase TikTok coins to send gifts to TikTok content creators.
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Donald Carson, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Birmingham, which oversees St. Francis of Assisi University Parish, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that Battocletti had worked at the church as an administrative assistant since 2018.
“She had a variety of responsibilities as those positions often do which includes parish bookkeeping,” Carson said. She was also a member of the parish, which serves about 900 families along with students primarily from the University of Alabama.
Asked how Battocletti’s crime was discovered, Carson said the church’s pastor and their finance council noticed a depletion of their cash reserves and brought in an auditor from the diocese to review it.
“As part of that they discovered these unauthorized transactions that were made over several months. It appeared that the employee handled those and intentionally diverted the funds and then took specific actions to avoid detection,” Carson said.
He said once the embezzlement was discovered, Battocletti’s employment was immediately terminated with the parish, and they got law enforcement involved because funds were transferred interstate. The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office would eventually take over the investigation.
Carson said church officials are now trying to understand why and how Battocletti was able to spend such a large sum of money on TikTok.
“To be honest, I don’t really understand how she spent all that money on TikTok,” Carson told CP.
“That has been a discussion. It doesn’t make any sense to any of us involved. What the purpose was and how that worked. In other words, why she did that? I don’t understand it and I don’t think we have a good explanation.”
When asked if it presented itself like a social media addiction, Carson said it was a likely explanation.
“It’s interesting,” he said.
TikTok coins, according to the social platform, are “virtual items that can be purchased by users of the Platform” and “can only be used on the Platform as a way to activate or access other virtual items or services that may be made available on the Platform from time to time.”
Gifts on TikTok are virtual items that users purchase with coins to show their appreciation for content on the platform.
When TikTok users send gifts, other users on the platform can see their username and the details of the gift they send. TikTok uses gifts to help calculate the popularity of user content when awarding what they call “Diamonds” to content creators. These diamonds can then be used by the content creators to obtain money from TikTok.
When gifts are purchased they cannot be returned or refunded for coins or money.
Research cited by Retail Touchpoints shows that users spend more money on the platform than any other social media platform annually, with Gen Zers spending the most: $158 annually. Some 88% of users in the study said they feel more connected to brands they discover on TikTok, while 95% said their last #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt purchase was worth the hype.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Battocletti’s sentencing will take place on Nov. 26, but that could happen sooner, WBRC said.
Carson told CP that since Battocletti’s theft was discovered, the church has instituted additional controls to prevent employees from stealing from the church.
Thanks to the support of members and the church’s insurance, Carson said the church will recover.
“This is a strong parish. It is a strong and resilient parish with good leadership. The pastor talked to the parishioners who stepped up to make sure that they were good from a cash standpoint and recover spiritually and financially,” he told CP. “This is also subject to insurance reimbursement; we expect the majority of the funds to be recovered, so the parish is going to be fine.”
He also explained that while the church is praying for Battocletti and her family, her fate is now in the hands of the court.
“It is difficult when a member of the family, so to speak, makes decisions like this that are not in your best interest or their own best interest, and that hurts. Right now our prayers are with the person involved, her family and friends and the parish. And hope for the best outcome,” Carson said.
“I’ve spoken to the pastor there and this is really in the hands of the Justice Department. They’ll make that decision. The judge will make that decision in terms of her sentencing. Again, from my perspective, our prayers are with her. People make mistakes, make bad choices, and we pray for the best possible outcome for the rest of her life.”
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