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A pastor and his wife have been arrested after it was discovered that they stole over $430,000 in church money and used it to gamble. To the loyal members of Bethel Institutional Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, the money that they’d been contributing in tithes and offerings were finding their way into their pastor’s and his wife’s pockets then to a slot machine in Louisiana.
The two were arrested and booked at the Harris County Jail over charges of stealing church money and using it to make gambling trips to a Louisiana casino.
A Harris County Grand Jury on Wednesday indicted Charles Gilford, 58, and his wife, Adriane Gilford, 53, and slapped them with aggregate theft and “misapplication of fiduciary property.”
Prosecutors claim the couple spent not less than $430,000 in church money, gambling at the Coushatta Casino located close to Lake Charles for a period between 2004 and 2007. During the period, the two were pastor and first lady at the BIMBC church, which, at the time, was located on Selinsky Road in Southeast Houston.
“Over that three-year period of time as fiduciaries there, they were able to take [a] total of $430,000 from that little Baptist church,” said Amy McCauley of the White Collar Crimes Section of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The couple left the church five years ago.
Efforts to get a comment from the current church leadership went futile as they said they aren’t ready to comment on the issue.
Some of the couple’s close friends can’t comprehend the possibility of the two stealing from their own congregation.
“And when I tell you impeccable people, outstanding people willing to help, I just, this is a little bit too much for me,” said a friend Regina Davis after she got wind of the case. Her son Freddie Davis added, “It doesn’t make sense…as far as I know, they’re really genuine people, both pastor Gilford and sister Gilford. They have been courteous and amazing over the years.”
However, after going through boxes of financial records, prosecutors were convinced that the couple was culpable and they managed to convince a grand jury to indict the two in a case that would earn them anything from 5 years in prison to a life sentence if they’re found guilty.
Cases of pastors misappropriating church money for personal expenses have been on the rise in recent years. Some are living lavish lifestyles financed by church members while others, like the one on the spotlight, embezzle church money to satisfy their gambling addiction.
Source: AllChristianNews.com
Date Posted: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016 , Total Page Views: 1424
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