In early December 2021, a Moore, Oklahoma single mother received a text from her day care provider. “There is an emergency. We need you to pick-up your child immediately. Nothing is wrong with your child.”
“Imagine my surprise when I show up to pick-up my son and the FBI is waiting for us,” says the mother. They wouldn’t tell us anything other than “they are not investigating anything with the day care including physical harm to children.” My day care provider was Chanell Easton. Her husband is Aaron Easton.
As a new parent I was losing my mind said the mother. She called Department of Health Services (DHS) to ask about the Eastons. DHS was not helpful. She then found an article online about the unsolved death of Sara Matthews Easton, then Marysville Chief of Police Aaron Easton’s deceased wife. She never returned to the daycare for her son’s belongings.
On May 19, 2022, a federal grand jury in Sacramento returned an indictment, charging Chanell Easton with 22 counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft for a scheme to embezzle church funds, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
“According to court documents, from June 2013 to February 2018, Easton worked as an administrator at a church in Yuba City. During her employment, Easton stole over $360,000 from the church, including from its food pantry and youth ministry, during a years-long embezzlement scheme. Without the church’s knowledge or authorization, Easton opened five business credit card accounts in the church’s name. Easton used these five credit cards, as well as a credit card used by the church’s youth pastor, to make personal purchases—including at a hair salon, retail stores, online retailers, a vacation rental service, and to buy concert tickets—and then paid off the resulting balance with the church’s money. Easton also transferred money directly from the church’s bank accounts to her own personal account, paid down the balance of her own personal credit card, and paid her cellphone provider for her personal bills and for new phones.” (U.S. Attorney’s Office Statement)
(The Pastor of Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Garret Andrew, Easton’s boss, served there from January 1, 2013 to August of 2020. He now pastors Nipomo Community Presbyterian Church. Chanell Bright Easton left her church job after marrying former Marysville Chief of Police Aaron Easton on December 9, 2017. They eventually relocated to Oklahoma.)
If Chanell Easton is found guilty as charged that means she was embezzling church funds while being the fiancé of Marysville’s Chief of Police. The Aaron / Chanell timeline reaches nearly back to Sara Matthews Easton’s death.
The Appeal Democrat published a story on November 9, 2017 describing accusations of a former police cadet that Aaron Easton forced her to perform oral sex in a patrol car in 2008. Chief Easton resigned the day the story appeared according to the paper. The Yuba County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney had been investigating the accusation.
Sara Matthews Easton died on August 16, 2015 from a gunshot wound to the head in Aaron and Sara’s Yuba City, CA. bedroom. The case is unresolved. The Sutter County coroner has never declared the “manner” or circumstances of Sara’s death. The probe was turned over to the California Department of Justice where Vice President Kamala Harris was then the Attorney General. The investigation ended there.
The Sara Matthews Easton death tainted Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper’s time in office. Hopper could not prosecute the case as her then husband Brian Hopper was interviewed by Yuba City Police Department regarding Sara’s death. The Hoppers and Eastons were friends at one time.
The indictment also says that Chanell Easton stole money from the church by writing checks to others and to her for personal expenses. She forged the signatures of the church’s treasurer or the head volunteer of the church’s food pantry.
This case is the result of the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliot C. Wong and Christopher S. Hales are prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Easton faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20-years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of wire fraud, and a mandatory two-year sentence on each count of aggravated identity theft. The charges are allegations and Chaney is presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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