Kristy Hammersley, 34, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with two outstanding warrants for theft from an East Nashville Church.
In June, Hammersley was in an SUV in the parking lot of the Memorial Lutheran Church on Riverside Drive in East Nashville. A churchgoer spoke to her briefly and saw her go into the kitchen of the church, and later found her coming downstairs inside the church before services began, and noted there was no reason for a visitor to have been in the upstairs of the church.
Soon after, a parishioner called police to report that her purse had been stolen. She remembered putting the purse under her chair while assisting with setup for the day. She remembers seeing a lady, later identified as Hammersley, sit behind her chair, and noting that she must be a new visitor, as she had never seen her before. She had went back to say hello to her some time later, but Hammersley had already left.
Another churchgoer that had arrived early as part of the church’s coffee ministry was preparing for service when she saw Hammersley come into the kitchen, and assumed she was a visitor, too. After Hammersley left, she realized her wallet was also missing.
Hammersley was taken into custody on Monday and charged with 2 counts of theft before bonding out. She was already out on bond for an assortment of other pending cases, including credit card fraud, and 6 additional theft charges.
