Former Treasurer of Norfolk Nonprofit Convicted of Embezzling $27k From Organization
NORFOLK, Va. — Christopher Marcus Bernhardt, 45, was convicted on Friday of felony embezzlement, felony issuing of bad checks, and failure to appear in court for felony offenses after he stole $27,000 while serving as the treasurer of a local nonprofit organization between 2020 and 2022.
While serving as the treasurer between October 2020 and April 2022, Mr. Bernhardt made out to himself numerous checks from the nonprofit’s bank account, pocketed multiple cash deposits that belonged to the nonprofit, and made multiple bank funds transfers from the nonprofit’s account. In total, Mr. Bernhardt stole $27,000 from the nonprofit.
When Mr. Bernhardt was first confronted by other officers of the nonprofit, he confessed to what he had done and offered to pay back the $27,000 in monthly installments. In November 2022, despite knowingly having insufficient funds in his own account, Mr. Bernhardt gave his colleagues a check for $3,000. When his colleagues deposited the check, it bounced. The bank mailed Mr. Bernhardt a certified letter notifying him of the returned check and demanding he remedy it with certified funds, but Mr. Bernhardt never did.
After the other officers reported Mr. Bernhardt’s crimes to Norfolk Police, he was charged with felony embezzlement and felony issuing of a bad check. On April 17, 2023, Mr. Bernhardt failed to appear in the Norfolk General District Court for his preliminary hearing, and the judge issued an additional warrant against him for felony failure to appear. The Norfolk Police rearrested Mr. Bernhardt on that warrant.
In Circuit Court in August 2024, Mr. Bernhardt accepted a plea agreement that was designed to try to help the nonprofit recover its money from Mr. Bernhardt. Mr. Bernhardt agreed to plead guilty as charged, pay regularly scheduled and full restitution plus interest to the nonprofit within two years, and not break the law; in exchange, after two years Mr. Bernhardt would have been found guilty of reduced misdemeanor charges. If Mr. Bernhardt did not comply with the plea agreement, he would be found guilty of the felonies as charged. Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted Mr. Bernhardt’s plea agreement and took the matter under advisement for six months — pending proof Mr. Bernhardt had begun his restitution payments — setting a review hearing on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
By the time of his review hearing on Friday, Mr. Bernhardt had not paid any restitution to the nonprofit. For being in violation of his plea agreement, Judge Rigney found Mr. Bernhardt guilty as charged of the felonies. Judge Rigney revoked Mr. Bernhardt’s bond and continued Mr. Bernhardt’s case for sentencing on May 2.
“Mr. Bernhardt abused his position of trust to steal a significant amount of money from a nonprofit organization,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “He richly deserved a felony conviction up front, and we offered him a plea agreement only in hopes that its incentives would push Mr. Bernhardt to close the hole he had blown in the finances of the nonprofit about which he purported to care. Mr. Bernhardt failed to make his amends, and he will now sit in jail awaiting sentencing for the felony he has earned. A crime does not need to be violent to be serious, and we will continue to prosecute people who victimize our local institutions and the people they serve.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wm. Joshua Holder is prosecuting Mr. Bernhardt’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Darren B. O’Connor led the investigation.
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