Church Pastor Charged with Stealing Hurricane Funds from Church
Ok, I know there was just a film that came out that featured a church robbery as a sign of desperation for two black men (Tracy Morgan and Ice Cube) in First Sunday, but this next story is just sad, not funny.
Noah Thomas, a Marrero, Louisiana man, has been charged with mail fraud by the FBI. It seems that Thomas felt fit to have a $35,000 check from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund mailed to his house and then deposited in a personal checking account. He also had the initial $10,000 installment of the SBA (Small Business Administration) Loan that the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church applied for, as the church did not have flood insurance at the time of Katrina, deposited into the same personal account.
How dumb do you have to be? And how greedy can you get? Stealing the rebuilding money for a baptist church. That must carry the punishment of your own circle of hell.
Thomas was the pastor of the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the 2200 block of South Liberty Street in New Orleans. The church was devastated in the flood, and the money that Thomas is alleged to diverted from the church coffers for his own personal benefit was meant to rebuild the church.
Thomas, if convicted, faces up to twenty years in prison. He could also be fined a quarter of a million dollars…all for $45,000.
Pathetic.
The Times-Picayune reported that the Pilgrim Missionary has a sign out front that has a new pastor listed. I should hope so, however, Thomas has not been found guilty as of yet, and the bible does say something about not judging or something.
Still, the sad part is…he probably is guilty. Sigh.
New Orleans, FBI, church, pastor, Noah Thomas, Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, SBA, flood, Katrina
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