ROANOKE, Va. -- A seminar on church finances ultimately led to charges a financial secretary and his wife embezzled nearly $100,000 from their church, according to a report in The Roanoke Times.

Terry Lynn Moore and his wife, Myra, are on trial in U.S. District court. Prosecutors allege Moore wrote checks to himself, his wife and his business, Moore Printing & More, from a St. Paul Pentocostal Holiness Church account he controlled as financial secretary.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering told a jury that between 1994 and 2000 about $27,000 went to the business; $20,000 went to pay off a credit card issued to Terry Moore and the church; about $19,000 went to Myra Moore; and about $3,000 went to Terry Moore. Other checks were written to pay office supply accounts, telephone bills and personal expenses, Wearing said.

The Moores contend the money was used for church-related business or community outreach programs, the newspaper reported.

According to the report, Moore kept all financial records at his house, providing the church with scraps of paper with account balances written on them when asked for financial details.

The alleged scheme came to light in 2000, after a seminar on church finances led the church to question whether fiscal records should be kept at Moore's home instead of the church.

When asked to produce records, the newspaper reported, Moore allegedly told church members he shredded them because they took up too much room in his house. The church obtained bank records and discovered the checks Moore allegedly wrote to himself, his wife and his business.

The defense attorney in the case, Gary Lumsden, maintains Moore had broad financial authority that was unwritten yet understood, because the church lacked bylaws and a clear organizational structure.

The trial is expected to last a week.