Macon Woman charged in connection to stealing over $500,000 from Macon church
MACON, GA — The sheriff’s office said an administrator was charged in connection with stealing $500,000 from Riverside United Methodist Church, which closed in October 2025.
Months after a Macon church was forced to close its doors, new details are coming to light about what might have gone wrong behind the scenes.
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that they arrested a woman in connection with stealing over $500,000 from Riverside United Methodist Church over the course of around four years.
They said Tiffany Alayn Watson, 39, was identified and eventually charged in connection with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church.
The church, which was forced to close its doors in October of 2025, had new leadership brought in before closure, according to the sheriff’s office. That leadership questioned the debt, general financial operations and overall financial status of the church.
The sheriff’s office said these questions eventually led the South Georgia United Methodist Conference to issue a complaint to the sheriff’s office, which led to a RICO Act Violation investigation.
In the release, the sheriff’s office said that their Criminal Investigation Division found criminal activity from 2022 until 2025 when the church was closed. They learned that, during this time, over $500,000 was stolen from the church without permission and was “converted to personal use.”
They said they connected the transactions to Watson, the church administrator and co-director of the Riverside United Methodist Church Children Center, and listed her as a person of interest.
According to the sheriff’s office, they met with Watson on Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. After further investigation, she was brought to the Bibb County jail, where she’s being held without bond.
The said Watson was charged with computer theft, first-degree forgery, theft by conversion, theft by deception, financial identity fraud, fiduciary theft by taking, money laundering, evasion of income tax, penalty, interest or other and racketeering influenced and corrupt organizations.
The release noted the RICO Act Violation is still under investigation. Anyone with further information can contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or the Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.
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