The President of First National bank in Waynesboro tells NBC Augusta bank officials will ask prosecutors to charge a former employee accused of stealing more than half-a-million dollars over time from a general ledger account.

The bank says no customer accounts were affected.

Linda Burch's friends told NBC Augusta she is a good woman who made a mistake. They pointed out she hasn't been charged yet.

Investigators say Burch confessed to the congregation at Union Grove Methodist Church about the thefts.

That brings up the question: what right do you have to privacy in church?

"When people have done something they're so guilty for, there's an overpowering need to confess," said Father Tim Donahue with Most Holy Trinity Church in Augusta.

"In that public confession she's kind of set herself up," he said. "It can be used against her in any court of law."

Even if it's called a sanctuary, Donahue says don't expect anything you say in public behind church doors to stay private. Even if it's one on one, it's not completely confidential. In the Catholic Church the only time it's off the record is in confessional.

"I can never say anything to anyone. However, I can withhold forgiveness until they turn themselves in," Donahue said. "It's not an automatic ticket to forgiveness."

Most protestant churches do not share the sacrament of confession, so anything you say could be on-the-record.