This Week In Holy Crimes

[WillParkinson]

This Week In Holy Crimes

Over the last seven days...

This Week's Winner
Ohio: On trial for embezzling over $1M from his church, Pastor David Thompson said that he was authorized by God to take the money. "As the pastor and as the overseer I was mandated first and foremost from God." Thompson allegedly mortgaged church property to buy himself a Hummer, a BMW, a Ford Expedition, a Cadillac Escalade, and a boat. Thompson also used church funds to send his children to private school and add a pool to his home. Thompson faces 87 years in prison.

See the rest of the sordid list:

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-week-in-holy-crimes.html

[realisticphish]

1. "Dude, God was at my house all the time

and he REALLY wanted a pool. What was I gonna do? :shrug:"

[onager]

2. "God Wants You To ROLL!"

Thanks! This week's winner reminded me of this classic Los Angeles scam, which went nation-wide to the tune of $21 million. Most of which ended up in Larry Flynt's Gardena poker club.

This one would have never worked without the connivance of trusted preachers and church ladies all over the USA, who got nice kickbacks for signing up the suckers:

In 1994, two 19-year-old boys, Robert "Buddha" Gomez and James Nichols, unfolded a scheme to sell cars belonging to a nonexistent inheritance estate for the bargain price of $1,000 to $4,000 apiece.

Nichols, as "executor," employed his own mother, a devout Christian, who sold the phony "miracle cars" through her church. He then funneled the proceeds to Gomez, who was quickly becoming a notorious casino gambler.

Before long, they had a network of saleswomen in churches from Los Angeles to New York and thousands of "investors" clamoring for the "blessings" that were to be delivered "any day now." They continued the scam for seven years, eventually fleecing faithful believers of $21 million, in the largest case of automobile fraud ever. -- David Siegfried, Booklist

http://www.amazon.com/God-Wants-Roll-John-Phillips/dp/0786714433

[cleanhippie]

3. Wow, the hypocrisy never ends.......