$80,000 embezzled from fund that helps low income people afford bail, NC cops say

A “pretrial justice” fund created to help low income people pay bail was victimized by one of its supporters in an embezzlement scheme, according to investigators in eastern North Carolina.

The charity involved is the Craven County Community Bail Fund, created to “challenge the inequitable cash bail system that criminalizes poverty and disproportionately impacts low-income people and racial minorities.”

“On October 21 ... the Craven County Sheriff’s Office received a report involving a larceny of more than $80,000.00 from the Craven County Community Bail Fund,” the sheriff’s office said in a Jan. 5 news release.

“An investigation conducted by the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Bureau identified Talina Lynn Massey, 41 of Greenville, N.C. as the perpetrator.”

Massey was arrested Dec. 29 and has been charged with three felony counts of embezzlement, officials said.

Court records show the counts cover three withdrawals: One for $16,500, one for $50,000 and one for $15,000.

Massey was an employee of the fund, according to court records, but no job title is provided. A June 2024 article in the New Bern Sun Journal reports she was “a volunteer and co-director.”

The fund provides bail assistance of $5,000 or less “to non-violent individuals in Craven County who are held in pretrial detention simply because they cannot afford bail.” The nonprofit has posted $551,950 in bonds for 226 people since 2021, allowing them to maintain jobs and homes, according to the nonprofit’s website.

“Through our revolving fund, recovered bonds are reinvested to free others in need and strengthen community resilience. We advocate for systemic change that ends wealth-based incarceration, champions fairness in the justice system, and affirms that freedom should not be contingent on one’s financial means,” the fund says.

Craven County is about a 115-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.