Former homeless shelter executive director accused of stealing $100K in funds
By Deanna Sipe
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JACKSON COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — The former executive director for a homeless shelter has been arrested and charged with multiple felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses after authorities accused her of embezzling $100,000 in funds from the shelter.
Court documents state that Gretta Michelle Worley, 60, was arrested on March 31 after an arrest warrant was issued on March 30.
Worley was charged with 10 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in connection with an embezzlement case at HERE in Jackson County Inc., a nonprofit temporary emergency shelter for the homeless, in which Worley was the executive director since 2022.
Court records for the first count from an incident spanning from January 2023 to October 2025 state that Worley “knowingly and designedly with the intent to cheat and defraud obtain credit cards, debit cards, U.S. currency, and numerous goods and services, from HERE in Jackson County, Inc.”
Worley and family members would use multiple credit cards issued in the name of HERE in Jackson County, Inc., for personal benefit, according to the court records. The value of the items bought within the 2023 to 2025 time period totaled more than $100,000.
Court records go on to list multiple 2025 offense dates along with the amount Worley is accused of spending. See the full list below:
Worley was charged with three counts on October 14, 2025, for charging the card three times, equaling a total of $43.76 Worley was charged with one count on October 15, 2025, for charging a total of $344.96 Worley was charged with four counts on October 16, 2025, for charging the card four times, equaling a total of $86.47 Worley was charged with one count on October 18, 2025, for charging a total of $23.95
According to Cris Weatherford, a board member with HERE, the board initially initiated an investigation into Worley based on the workplace environment and the treatment of people, which then deepened.
“And I can tell you if it wasn’t for the staff, there’s a couple of brave staff members that stepped forward and said, ‘Hey, we’re seeing some stuff we don’t thinks quite right.’ And as a board, we took that seriously and started looking into things immediately and when we verified that there weren’t things right and a lot of financial stuff wasn’t even on the radar, it was other things,” Weatherford said in an April 7 Jackson County Commissioners meeting.
Weatherford went on to say that the organization had been dealing with the issues since October 2025 and immediately began an investigation, putting Worley on investigative leave.
In the commissioners’ meeting, Vice Chairman of District 1, Todd Bryson, said Worley would ask for more money each year, becoming hostile when faced with questions.
“I always thought it was from the get-go she’d come in and request, you know, this amount and then the next year it’d be this amount. You’d ask questions, you know, but it was always hostility. She’d push back, push back, against questions,” Bryson said.
Amid the investigation into Worley, Weatherford says the hope for the year is to rebrand the organization.
“Her actions are not a reflection of this organization,” Weatherford said in the commissioners’ meeting.
Weatherford said that several board members and staff members left the organization following Worley’s arrest.
According to court records, the total amount of money stolen was $100,499.14. In an attempt to get some of that money back, Weatherford says the organization is filing an insurance claim.
Looking forward, Weatherford hopes to rebrand the organization and put safeguards in place, such as a yearly audit, to make sure another incident never happens again.
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