Eureka woman accused of stealing $150,000 from church

A Eureka woman is accused of fraud after church elders said she stole more than $150,000.

Kimberly M. Guderjahn, 62, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of theft by embezzlement May 18 in Lincoln County District Court. Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 15.

She is free after Lincoln County Justice of the Peace Jay Sheffield granted her release on her own recognizance.

A probable cause affidavit said the offenses were committed between June 1, 2024 and Oct. 30, 2025. 

Eureka Police officer Greg Neils met with five deacons Oct. 30 at the First Baptist Church. They gave the officer bank statements from two accounts. One account originally had $95,000 in it, but only $6,000 remained. Another account holding $65,000 was overdrawn by $1,400.

Neils learned Guderjahn, who was employed by the church, was the only person with access to the accounts. She was responsible for writing checks from both accounts and making transactions for the church, according to court documents.

Oct. 31, Neils retrieved bank statements from Glacier Bank. According to the charging document, several transactions were made with a debit card to Montana Property Management, which is Guderjahn’s daughter, Amanda Benge. Debit transactions to the business totaled $89,150, court documents said. 

There were also two checks written to Benge, according to the affidavit. One was for $10,000 and another for $318.46. Neils wrote in the affidavit that there was no legitimate reason for the $99,150 to be transferred from the church to Benge.

In separate interviews with church deacons, one a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Neils was told that they didn’t require Guderjahn to get approval to make purchases or write checks because they trusted her.

Another deacon said the defendant had written the word, “reimbursement” in the memo line, which wasn’t normal practice for the church.

The deacons said they called Guderjahn to the church after they reported the alleged theft and she denied taking any money. She was also confronted with the Montana Property Management transactions and Guderjahn allegedly said recurring charges were accidentally set up. She said she was trying to reverse the action.

But a review of the transactions indicated that the debit card appeared to have been physically used for each transaction, according to court documents.

Neils said he tried to interview Guderjahn on Nov. 3, but she declined to do so without an attorney present.

County attorney Marcia Boris is prosecuting the case while Libby attorney Ann German is defending Guderjahn.

The maximum sentence for a conviction on fraud is 10 years in the Montana State Prison.