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Black Collar Crime: Pastor Cameron McDonald Faces Civil Suit Over Misused Donation

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

pastor cameron mcdonald

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Cameron McDonald, pastor of Southern Acres Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, stands accused of “embezzling $100,000 of a church contribution.”

The Lexington Herald Leader reports:

A Lexington pastor under scrutiny since last fall is now accused of embezzling $100,000 of a church contribution, according to a civil lawsuit filed by two church members.

The new lawsuit from James Keogh and Chad Martin filed Friday in Fayette County Circuit Court provides more specific details about the source of the heated dispute at Southern Acres Christian Church than did an earlier lawsuit that was dismissed while the church members tried to work with pastor Cameron McDonald.

Keogh and Martin accuse McDonald of embezzlement, unlawful conversion of funds and unjust enrichment in the civil complaint. An attorney representing McDonald earlier said no money had been misused and denied all allegations. Attempts to reach attorney Austin Wilkerson Tuesday were not immediately successful.

Keogh gave $170,000 to the church on Dec. 19, 2016, at McDonald’s urging and $100,000 was diverted to McDonald or his wife to help pay the mortgage on the couple’s $530,000 Jessamine County house purchased about five months earlier, according to the lawsuit. Keogh had specified the money was supposed to be used to pay off the church’s mortgage

“McDonald intentionally treated Keogh’s $100,000 as his own and diverted it to his own personal use, to the detriment of Keogh and the others, by failing to make the specified payment of mortgage debt he promised to make,” the complaint states.

According to the complaint, Keogh made a written demand for the return of the money, but McDonald did not comply or respond. McDonald was given a Feb. 15 deadline.

The court complaint states that Keogh is entitled to the return of the $100,000 because McDonald did not use it in the manner promised and agreed. The church mortgage of $144,000 was not paid off and the church was subsequently in debt due to the misuse of the money, according to court files and a police case report filed in November.

In addition to diverting the money, McDonald insisted his pastor compensation should be increased in the months that followed the purchase of the Jessamine County home and its 96 acres of land , the new lawsuit claims.

Last year, McDonald also insisted the church add his wife to the payroll, giving them a combined income of more than $100,000, the lawsuit states.

McDonald arranged last year for the removal of several of the church’s governing board of elders and appointed his wife and friend, pastor Tim Jones, to the new 3-person board that included himself, court documents show.

The complaint also alleges that McDonald fired the church’s officer manager to prevent her from being able to provide information about the church’s finances to law enforcement. No staff members other than McDonald and his wife are listed any longer on the church’s website.

Prior to the November lawsuit being dismissed, church attorney Wilkerson denied all allegations made against McDonald and the church and said all actions were taken in accordance with the Bible.

As tensions escalated, McDonald repeatedly barred some members from church. An off-duty Lexington police officer blocked some from entering the church during worship services.

Earlier this month, the church’s members voted 173-0 for a resolution removing McDonald as pastor and electing a new board of elders. In fact, the church members had to vote at a nearby park because they weren’t given access to church property; the church was locked during service that Sunday. Wilkerson, at the time, called the resolution illegal and contentious.

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Black Collar Crime: Baptist Church Treasurer Dorothy Nicolo Accused of Stealing $119,000

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

dorothy nicolo

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Dorothy Nicolo, treasurer for Aenon Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, stands accused of using church funds to pay for personal goods and vacations.

Karl Etters, a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, writes:

For the past five years, investigators say, Dorothy Nicolo used the bank accounts of Aenon Baptist Church like her own pocketbook.

The 70-year-old paid for vacations, shopping sprees and a lifestyle beyond her means with the $119,000 she is accused of stealing from the west Leon County church.

Nicolo, who served as the church’s volunteer treasurer for 24 years, was arrested Wednesday by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office on 40 felony counts that include grand theft of more than $100,000, scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of a credit card and forgery.

Church leadership caught onto the thievery when it went to repave its parking lot.

Heavy machinery to be used was delivered to the church on a Sunday in September. Nicolo asked why it was there and told several people the church did not have enough money to complete the $30,000 project, according to court records.

The church only had about $20,000, a fraction of what should have been available.

Nicolo had been altering the monthly expenditure records to conceal the purchases and money she was funneling from two bank accounts, according to court records. Church officials never noticed the discrepancies because Nicolo had financial statements mailed to her house.

Nicolo, who worked at Florida State University as a secretary for 30 years, was confronted about the thefts and admitted to Pastor Jason Whitelock to using the church’s credit cards.

“I know I was wrong, I’ve admitted it and I’m very sorry about it,” she told investigators. “It just seemed easy and I lost my sense of judgment.”

She spoke in front of the church’s congregation in October, asking for forgiveness and promising to repay the money.

The letter she read aloud is included in court records. Nicolo said she’d worked out a repayment budget and offered $5,000 in inheritance money as a down payment. She told Whitelock she’d tried to pay back the money incrementally by putting cash in the collection plate, but he told investigators there was no indication that had occurred.

Once the scheme was uncovered, Nicolo began to return to the church items she purchased with the stolen money.

Court records indicate Nicolo returned: 427 rolls of yarn, two shotguns, two Canon cameras, 86 Sea World picture frames, 158 stuffed animals, theme park cups, 76 assorted coffee mugs, acrylic bears and ceramic animal figurines, 234 bags and purses, 52 shirts and jackets, cell phone chargers and accessories, luggage and an Apple Watch.

She told investigators she’d used the church’s money to fund trips to Sea World, Disney World, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and made purchases in Cozumel while on a cruise.

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Black Collar Crime: Baptist Pastor Shawn Lawson Used Fake FBI Badge to Con People

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pastor shawn lawson

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Shawn Lawson, a former pastor of Baptist churches in Texas and Indiana, has spent the last four decades impersonating FBI agents so he could defraud gullible, trusting people. The following story calls Lawson a serial imposter.

Kevin Krause, a reporter for the Dallas News, writes:

When Shawn Lawson flashed his FBI badge, people believed he was the real deal. As one victim noted, he was older. And convincing.

But Lawson, 79, was never a federal agent and his badge was fake. He’s a former Baptist preacher who’s been conning people for decades — including his own congregations and other pastors — by posing as a federal agent and offering to help them with various matters for cash, the FBI says.

Lawson moved to Dallas after being forced out by two churches in Indiana in the 1990s, according to published reports. His reputation in Gary, Ind., earned him the nickname, “Lyin’ Lawson,” according to reports from the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana. One of the pastors he scammed called him a “pulpit pimp,” the newspaper reported.

Lawson was convicted in Waco federal court in 2015 on a charge of impersonating a public servant. He was ordered to repay his victims a total of $25,950.

Lawson was sentenced to time already served behind bars and was released from probation in 2016, court records show. Until recently, he was living in a Flower Mound nursing home. He was previously evicted from his Dallas apartment and presided for a time over his own church in Dallas, according to newspaper reports and public records.

He could not be reached, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

An FBI search warrant obtained by The Dallas Morning News chronicles his escapades over the years. That and other court records and newspaper reports paint Lawson as a serial impostor who bounced from church to church and spent his time playing slot machines in convenience stores while spinning tall tales of his life as a high-ranking federal official.

Lawson has been arrested for impersonating law enforcement at least four previous times in several states dating to 1980, according to the search warrant.

One of his arrests occurred in his own church, in Indiana.

Lawson met some of his victims on dating websites, the search warrant says.

Lawson told them and many others he could find them cheap homes and cars sold at federal auction, the warrant said. He told one woman he could get her deported brother back into the U.S. for a fee. He told another he could make a drug trafficking investigation go away. But when the women gave him cash for his help, they got nothing in return. And he wouldn’t return their calls, court records say.

“He didn’t want to take a check. It was always cash,” said Ansuade Boyefio, pastor of Holy Grounds Assembly International in Richardson.

Boyefio said Lawson claimed he could get some land that Boyefio needed for his growing church. It never happened, he said.

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Lawson was born in Arkansas. He was arrested in Little Rock in 1980 for criminal impersonation, the search warrant said. Three days later, he was arrested again in Little Rock — for impersonating an FBI agent.

In 1983, Lawson was arrested in Chicago for impersonating a federal officer, according to the search warrant.

And the FBI in Dallas arrested him in 1985 for impersonating a public servant, the warrant said.

Lawson moved to Gary, Ind., in the 1990s where he worked as a church pastor.

St. James Baptist Church in Gary ousted Lawson as its pastor after winning a court judgment against him, according to published reports.

A judge ruled in the 1996 court order that Lawson did not have a bachelor’s degree or doctorate and had not “pastored the churches” he listed in his resume, according to newspaper reports. The order also said he never held “any position with the National Baptist Convention.” It said Lawson defrauded St. James and that his employment contract with the church was “void.”

Lawson was ordered to leave the church and was restrained from acting as its minister or pastor, according to published reports.

Lawson later became pastor of a different church, Abyssinian Baptist Church in Gary, Ind., according to a newspaper article in which he was quoted.

He also helped incorporate in 1997 a Gary nonprofit entity called Concerned Pastors of the Central District Inc., corporate records show.

It didn’t last.

The Post-Tribune in Indiana reported that while serving as pastor of Abyssinian, Lawson was charged with theft for taking money from two people with the promise of finding them homes being auctioned for delinquent taxes. Police arrested him in the church.

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You can read the rest of the story here.

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Terry Millender and His Wife Convicted of Fraud

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments

terry and brenda millender

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Terry Millender, pastor of Victorious Life Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and his wife Brenda, were convicted Monday of a “$2 million fraud scheme that stole from members of their congregation and investors.”

NBC-4 reports:

A former pastor and his wife were convicted of a $2 million fraud scheme that stole from members of their congregation and investors.

Terry Wayne Millender, 53, and Brenda Millender, 57, were convicted by a federal jury Monday and could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the United States Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Terry Millender is the former senior pastor of Victorious Life Church in Alexandria.

Prosecutors said the couple operated a company called Micro-Enterprise Management Group, a Virginia company that alleged to help poor people in developing countries by providing small, short-term loans by working with a network of established micro-finance institutions.They recruited investors by emphasizing its Christian mission while promising guaranteed returns.

However, the jury found the Millenders used the money to make risky trades on the foreign exchange currency market, options trading, and payments toward the purchase of a $1.75 million home and other personal expenses.

When investors sought their returns, the Millenders blamed delays in repayment, in part, on the 2008 financial crisis, according to the complaint.

After the first scheme failed, prosecutors said they created another company Kingdom Commodities Unlimited, which they alleged specialized in the brokering of Nigerian oil deals. They were able to get more than $600,000 from investors and used the money to pay for rent, golf trips, a birthday party and other personal expenses.

The two will be sentenced on March 30, 2018.

A co-conspirator, Grenetta Wells, 56, of Alexandria, who served as chief operating officer at MEMG, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 12, 2018.

ts time to produce wayne millender

Millender’s bio on the It’s Time to Produce website (no longer active) states:

Pastor Terry Wayne Millender has been involved in Christian ministry for more than 27 years. He currently serves as Senior Pastor of Victorious Life Church located in Alexandria, VA.

As a Nationally recognized leader, author, radio and television show host of Victorious Life Today, he is sought after to conduct major conferences, in addition to equipping individuals through Citywide Prayer School and “It’s Time To Produce” Personal Growth Summits. Additionally, his international Pastoral equipping sessions have taken him to many nations around the globe.

A graduate of the International Bible Institute and Seminary and Hope Bible College, Pastor Terry is the founder of the Washington,D.C., based Power Unleashed Worldwide, Inc., an international missions and training organization established to help believers unleash the power and potential within them through Jesus Christ. His blockbuster new book, “IT’S TIME TO PRODUCE — Unleashing the Winner Within” is changing lives around the globe.

Pastor Terry is also the Chairman and CEO of Kingdom Commodities Unlimited, LLC and Millender Media & Communications Corp, LLC both based in Alexandria, VA.

He is committed to his family and has been happily married for 29 years to his wife Brenda. They have five children and six grand children. They currently reside in Alexandria, VA.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mark Millers Stands Accused of Ripping-Off Parishioners

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor mark miller

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Mark Miller, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was charged Monday with “two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses.” According to Miller, he has a drug and gambling addiction.

ABC-8 reports:

A former Sand Springs pastor now stands accused of swindling his parishioners out of thousands of dollars.

Mark Miller, 48, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses over $500 or a con game after a year-long investigation.

For many, the news was a total shock.

“When you think about a pastor of a church and he’s stealing money from church members, it’s just shocking and sad,” said convenience store owner, MD Hossain.

Hossain says Miller would come into his store all the time, located right across the street from Broadway Baptist Church. He says Miller always seemed like a nice guy.

“He would buy drinks and gum,” said Hossain. “A very good customer.”

Now, the good customer and beloved former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church is facing allegations of conning parishioners out of thousands of dollars.

“It was $25,000 here, $12,000 there. It was significant,” said Captain Todd Enzbrenner with the Sand Springs Police Department.

According to the affidavit, Miller first started borrowing money in October of 2016. He allegedly told victims he needed the money to pay for his daughter’s college tuition but instead would use it on lavish things.

“He borrowed a large sum of money from a particular person, and then that victim tried to recoup the money several months later,” said Enzbrenner. “They found out that he was also borrowing money from other parishioners and using that money to go on expensive vacations.”

The affidavit also states Miller told detectives he had painkiller and gambling addictions. It says he would gamble the borrowed money to try to double it to pay back what he borrowed.

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Black Collar Crime: Baptist Pastor Mark Whitaker Charged With Forgery and Fraud

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor mark whitaker

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Mark Whitaker, assistant pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church (his father’s church) in Portsmouth, Virginia, stands accused of forgery, passing forged checks, and identity fraud.

Scott Daugherty, a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, writes:

A Circuit Court judge ordered the public out of the courtroom on Monday afternoon so prosecutors and defense attorneys could argue two motions relating to Councilman Mark Whitaker’s case in private.

Retired Hampton Circuit Judge William Andrews III cleared the room after a defense attorney indicated he planned to discuss grand jury testimony the court previously ordered sealed.

A Virginian-Pilot reporter objected to the move, prompting Andrews to ask a deputy to escort everyone out.

Whitaker, assistant pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, is charged with 11 counts of forgery, seven counts of passing forged checks and two counts of identity fraud.

The charges stem from an investigation Sheriff Bill Watson initiated into Whitaker’s church, its development company and its now-defunct credit union.

Whitaker’s trial was originally set to start Monday, but the judge postponed it until March 21 so the defense could argue various motions.

Whitaker’s attorneys asked Andrews earlier this year to toss the entire indictment. Jon Babineau and Don Scott argued that the special grand jury process was tainted. They took issue with how Portsmouth Circuit Judge William Moore Jr. recused himself from handling Whitaker’s case after overseeing the grand jury and how Watson and one of his investigators had publicly denounced Whitaker.

The attorneys also argued the court should dismiss 15 of the counts because of insufficient evidence. They noted that two of the victims identified in the indictment have come out in support of Whitaker. Malinda Starkley, who worked at the church and credit union, and Caroline Larosiliere, Whitaker’s sister, say that if Whitaker signed their names to any documents, he did so with their permission.

Special prosecutor Andrew Robbins countered that there is no evidence Moore was biased against Whitaker. He also argued that because Capt. Lee Cherry and Investigator Brett Johnson of the Sheriff’s Office were involved in the original investigation, it made sense for the court to order them to assist the grand jury, along with a special agent from the U.S. Treasury Department.

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Whitaker’s church bio page states:

Dr. Mark Micaiah Whitaker is the third of four children born to Bishop James M. and Otelia McIntyre Whitaker of Portsmouth, VA.  He is married to Dr. Ingrid Whitaker, who serves as a Tenured Associate Professor of Sociology at Old Dominion University.  Dr. Mark and Dr. Ingrid Whitaker made history on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 by becoming the first married coupled elected to Portsmouth City Council and Portsmouth School Board.  They are the proud parents of four children – *****.

Dr. Whitaker was educated in the Portsmouth Public School System.  In 1983, he graduated 4th in his class with honors from the great Manor High School and was named to the First Team All-State Boys Basketball Team.  Dr. Whitaker furthered his education at Virginia Tech where he was the recipient of a full-athletic scholarship in basketball, served as President of the Black Student Alliance, was listed as Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science.  In 1989, Dr. Whitaker received a Masters of Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University. Moreover, in 1993, Dr. Whitaker received the Doctor of Jurisprudence (Law Degree) from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law where he served as President of the Black Law Students Association in 1992 and 1993 and served on the College of Law Honor Council.  Dr. Whitaker has done further studying in the R.B. Pamplin College of Business Doctoral Program at Virginia Tech and the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union in the Masters of Divinity program.

Dr. Whitaker presently serves as a Tenured Associate Professor of Management at the historic Hampton University.   In 1992, Dr. Whitaker was licensed as a minister and ordained in June of 1995.  Moreover, Dr. Whitaker serves as the Assistant Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Portsmouth, VA where his father, Bishop James M. Whitaker has served as the Pastor since June of 1964 and his mother, Otelia McIntyre Whitaker, is the Minister of Music.  Under the direction of his father, Dr. Whitaker initiated an endowment fund ministry at the church, computerized the operations of the church and church credit union, received over $1 million from the Virginia Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant for after-school tutoring and summer enrichment programs for elementary and middle school students in the Cavalier Manor neighborhood, expanded the catering business of the church, coordinated the purchase of the former Bona Villa 15 acre apartment complex, created the New Bethel Development, LLC , reorganized the Diaconate Ministry, and developed the Wednesday night Christian Development Institute.

In May 2002, Dr. Whitaker was elected to the Portsmouth School Board as the youngest person ever elected and served until December 2014.  As a School Board Member, Dr. Whitaker served as chair of the Minority Contracting Committee and the Corporate Sponsorship Committee.  Moreover Dr. Whitaker was very instrumental in the School Board implementing a Minority and Women Business Enterprises Program, Middle School Athletics Program, Pay Equity Study, and in advocating for social justice and respect for all.

Dr. Whitaker is one who believes that, through Christ, we can do all things.

In April 2017, Daugherty reported:

Councilman Mark Whitaker was indicted Thursday on 20 felony charges of identity fraud, forgery and using forged checks.

A special grand jury impaneled to hear evidence about Whitaker’s church, New Bethel Baptist Church, and its development company and its now-defunct credit union returned the indictments.

Eleven counts alleged forgery, seven “uttering a forged check” and two identity fraud. Most of the charges stem from August 2013, but two are from October 2014.

Three people were identified as victims in the paperwork – Kevin Blount, Caroline Larosiliere and Malinda Starkley. New Bethel’s website lists a Malinda Starkley as a deacon.

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Whitaker previously blasted the grand jury investigation as politically motivated, noting that Sheriff Bill Watson was involved in the initial inquiry. The two are longtime political foes, with each accusing the other of racism and grandstanding over the years.

A source familiar with the case told The Pilot that Watson had his employees start the investigation, and then they looped in the U.S. Treasury Department.

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According to court documents, investigators with the Sheriff’s Office, Treasury and the federal agency that regulates credit unions first presented evidence to Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales. But she asked the court in January to assign a special prosecutor, citing a conflict of interest “and to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”

Chief Circuit Judge William Moore Jr. impaneled the nine-member grand jury Tuesday to look into the church, the financial relationships between its entities and transactions between those entities and their members, among other things.

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After Robbins presented the charges to the jurors, eight of whom appeared to be black and one white, it took about an hour to return with signed indictments.

Earlier Thursday, an attorney representing the church said she did not believe any crimes had occurred.

“If they indict anyone in this matter, it would be an absolute tragedy,” said Verbena Askew, who accompanied a half-dozen church employees Tuesday and Wednesday while they testified to the grand jury.

Over the past month, Askew has repeatedly argued the jury was not legally able to return an indictment. She continued questioning that ability Thursday.

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James and Mark Whitaker run the church at 4212 Greenwood Drive and are involved in its development company. Whitaker headed the church’s credit union before it was liquidated in August 2015 because the National Credit Union Administration determined it would never be able to “restore viable operations.”

The church started the development company about 11 years ago to buy a dilapidated rental complex next door, but financing dried up, and New Bethel Development defaulted on a $2.9 million loan, with the church as collateral.

A third party took control and arranged to sell it so the bank could get its money back. The buyer, Herman & Kittle, wants to build 280 apartments there. But the project didn’t get City Council approval after pressure from residents in the Cavalier Manor neighborhood, and Herman & Kittle is suing.

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Black Collar Crime: Thieving Evangelical Pastor Terry Wells Pays Restitution to Avoid Prison

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor terry wells

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Terry Wells, pastor of My Brother’s Keeper Outreach Ministries in Trenton, New Jersey, avoided prison Friday by paying restitution to a family he bilked out of thousands of dollars.

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, a reporter for The Trentonian, writes:

The Rev. Terry Wells, 42, pastor of My Brother’s Keeper Outreach Ministries, duped a family into financial loss over two years ago but appeared in Mercer County Superior Court on Friday to try to make things right.

Dressed up in a suit and tie, Wells formally presented the victimized family with $5,300 via cashier’s check on Friday. He still owes $6,700, and the state has the right to terminate his plea agreement and prosecute him on numerous counts of credit card theft, forgery and theft by deception if he fails to pay the balance by Jan. 5, 2018.

Wells gained the trust of the local family through his ministry and then exploited them as the unwitting victims of his deception. The whole shebang is presented as a misdemeanor under his plea agreement, but the pastor was originally accused of achieving self-enrichment through a staggering set of devilish deeds.

A grand jury in April 2016 handed up a 23-count indictment charging Wells with a litany of offenses on allegations he bilked thousands of dollars from the victimized family and spent their cash and charged their credit cards throughout Mercer County.

Wells, a Trenton resident, fell from grace in 2015 after police in Ewing, Lawrence and Hamilton charged him with theft-related crimes. Court records show he was committed to jail on Oct. 13, 2015, but got released the next day on bail, which was set at 10 percent of $80,000 cash bail. All of those charges were merged into one case that became the 23-count indictment.

Seeking to resolve the matter without going to trial, Wells accepted a plea agreement that calls for prosecutors to dismiss the 23-count indictment in exchange for him pleading guilty to one count of a downgraded theft charge and agreeing to pay $12,000 in restitution to the victimized family.

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In addition to his 2015 theft by deception case that spawned the 23-count indictment, court records show Wells has also been charged with third-degree insurance fraud for an incident that occurred in Trenton on Jan. 30.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Luther Feltus-Curry Sentenced to 23-Year Prison Term for Defrauding Church Members

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jail

Luther Feltus-Curry, pastor of Revival Center Ministries in Vallejo, California was sentenced to prison yesterday after being found guilty of defrauding several church members.

The Daily Republic reports:

A former church pastor convicted of 29 felonies relating to fleecing several members of his flock of more than $1 million was sentenced Thursday to 23 years and eight months in prison.

Luther Feltus-Curry, 69, former pastor with the Revival Center Ministries in Vallejo, was found guilty in January of multiple charges of grand theft and scheming to defraud others by using false information to pedal promissory notes in their investment companies.

A partner in the scheme, Alma L. Perez, 56, was found guilty of 11 felonies. She was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison.

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Earlier this year, the Daily Republic reported:

A former Vallejo church pastor was found guilty Monday of 29 felonies related to fleecing several members of his flock of more than $1 million between 2008 and 2010.

Luther Feltus-Curry, 68, former pastor with the Revival Center Ministries, taught financial management and debt relief classes to his fellow church members starting in 2004, according to lawyers for Feltus-Curry and co-defendant Alma L. Perez.

Perez, 56, was found guilty of 11 felonies. Both defendants faced multiple charges of grand theft and scheming to defraud others by using false information to pedal promissory notes in their investment companies.

Judge John B. Ellis ordered Feltus-Curry and Perez to be locked up as they await sentencing, which is set for March 8. They had been out of custody since charges were filed against them in 2014.

Feltus-Curry in 2008 started promising annual returns of between 5 and 18 percent for church members who invested in the companies set up and operated by Perez. Some church members invested their entire life savings, in one case more than $300,000. Altogether, at least nine church members entrusted Feltus-Curry with more than $1 million, according to prosecutors in the complex jury trial that spanned nearly a month.

Lawyers for Feltus-Curry and Perez built their defense case largely around claims that their clients were also victims of fraud. They claimed Feltus-Curry and Perez were duped because they took the money handed over to them by churchgoers and invested it with other companies that promised even high rates of return in just months and that turned out to be just as bogus.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Lonny Remmers Begins Serving One Year Prison Sentence for Fraud

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pastor lonny remmers

Lonny Remmers, pastor of Heart of Worship Community Church in Corona, California, reported to prison today to begin serving a year-and-a-day sentence for defrauding an Ohio developer.

Brian Rokos, a reporter for The Press Enterprise, reports:

His last-minute bid to remain free for a few more weeks denied, Corona pastor Lonny Remmers on Tuesday, Aug. 22, reported to prison in Lompoc to begin serving his year-and-a-day sentence for his role in swindling $2 million from an Ohio developer.

Remmers in August 2016 pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was ordered to pay $95,000 restitution. Two others made pleas as well.

The day before he was due to turn himself in to the federal prison, Remmers, 59, filed a motion to delay that, writing that he had to care for his wife, Lisa, who Remmers said was bedridden with shingles, severe bronchitis and vertigo.

“It would be a great help to his wife, and would put defendant Remmers at ease if he could stay at home and take care of her for the next two to three weeks before he has to report to Lompoc,” Remmers wrote in the federal filing.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick denied the request without comment.

Remmers, Robert Milam and Mark O. Wittenmyer solicited $2 million from an Ohio developer as seed money for an investment fund but instead used the money for their own purposes. They had promised Larry Dillin a substantial return on his investment and said the plan was backed by assets in a different, multi-million fund that actually had no assets.

Remmers is head of the Heart of Worship Community Church, which has about two dozen members, many of them recovering drug addicts or others who sought refuge with Remmers from their troubled lives.

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Readers may remember Remmers from a 2012 story detailing his use of pliers to pinch the nipple of a teenage boy as punishment for sexually assaulting his sister. Rokos reported:

In his latest case, Remmers, pastor of a Corona church with 15-20 members, is accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy whose mother brought him to Remmers to be straightened out.

Remmers was charged in April with assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a child.

Authorities say that as head of the Heart of Worship Community Church, he directed two men living at one of the church’s group homes — Darryll D. Jeter Jr. and Nicholas J. Craig — to scare the boy.

Jeter, 28, and Craig, 22, both are charged with assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, making criminal threats, inflicting corporal injury on a child and assault. Authorities say that on March 18, the two men took the boy to Barstow, forced him to dig a grave, hit him with a shovel and threw dirt on him. Jeter and Craig returned the boy to Remmers, who then assaulted the boy’s nipples with pliers, authorities say.

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Remmers was sentenced to two-years in prison for his crime. And, as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, numerous Christians thought Remmers should have received a pat on the back, not prison, for “helping” the boy:

For one, people who had avoided speaking out during the case that began in March 2012 decided to speak publicly Friday, and they didn’t leave anything out as they tried to persuade Fields to give Remmers probation instead of prison.

The victim in the case and his mother – she moved in with Remmers after his arrest on charges that originally included kidnapping – spoke on the pastor’s behalf Friday.

The boy, now 16, said Remmers “is the best father I have ever known. He means the world to me. He doesn’t deserve any of this. He’s done more to help me in my life than anyone else I’ve ever known. I love this man.”

The boy’s mother, who is not being identified because it could identify the boy, spoke next. She said Remmers pleaded guilty so the boy wouldn’t have to testify about molesting his younger sister. But then she told the court what her son did to her daughter.

She said the incident should have been taken care of in “the family” and not involved police. Remmers taught her son that when it comes to rape, “No means no.”

She claimed that the plea deal was made because of a lack of evidence. Fields interrupted her, reminding her that Remmers voluntarily pleaded guilty.

“Respectfully, you seem to be ignoring that,” Fields said.

Remmers said he pleaded guilty to inflicting corporal injury on a child and assault with a deadly non-firearm weapon so the boy would not have to testify. But Remmers then made public for the first time a contention that the boy had been molested as a 3-year-old, being “passed around like a party favor.”

Remmers said the boy does not fear him.

“The day that this supposed incident went down, the young man came up to me and said ‘Grandpa, thank you for saving my life.’ Not ‘Why did you do this to me?’”

Several church members told Fields that Remmers’ counsel kept their marriages intact. Others said Remmers saved their lives, giving them hope and a place to live and be loved after they had been molested by various relatives or acquaintances. Others said that Remmers, who was ordained in the late 1990s – after serving a contempt of court sentence – is an outstanding pastor.

“I have never been closer to Jesus than I am now because of Pastor Lonny,” said Robert Guzeman, who said he has known Remmers 30 years. “I love you, Pastor.”

Church member Ryan Parks said he was a partier and drinker until he met Remmers, and that the pastor helped him with his marriage. “When I was introduced to the Lord by this man, everything changed for me.”

But two parents of church members said Remmers broke families apart and forbade parents from contacting their loved ones. Jim Forbes said he hadn’t seen his grandchildren for years until he walked past them in the court room.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Robbie Conn Stands Accused of Social Security Fraud

Bruce Gerencser 9 Comments

busted

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

William “Robbie” Conn, pastor of Jeffersonville Assembly of God in Jeffersonville, Kentucky, along with his wife Tonya, stand accused of Social Security fraud.

Lex-18 reports:

A federal grand jury indicted a Montgomery County pastor and his wife. Both are accused of committing fraud involving the Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicare programs.

The indictments for William “Robbie” Conn and his wife Tonya came down earlier this month in United States District Court for the the Eastern District of Kentucky in Lexington.

They allege Conn and his wife defrauded the government programs of more than $100,000 over six years.

The court documents said William Conn, a longtime pastor at Jeffersonville Assembly of God, learned he had a heart problem that required surgery in May 2009.

According to the indictment, Conn applied for Social Security Disability, and it was granted.

The indictment alleges the church board then agreed to pay William Conn’s salary to his wife Tonya. In doing so, “William ‘Robbie’ Conn could receive social security benefits, while still receiving a salary from Jeffersonville Assembly of God,” the indictment states.

It goes on to allege Conn continued to receive benefits while working until 2015.

Conn and his wife both face seven counts each with a possible five years of prison time or more for each count.

We reached out to Conn and his wife several different times but never heard back.

Churchgoers said off-camera that they were shocked by the allegations. One said Conn called the accusations “not true” at a service Wednesday night.

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Bruce Gerencser